Yesterday, as I entered the work area at the Salinas Buddhist Temple, the spicy scent of marinated tri-tip from Star Market wafted through the room from the grill outside, making me hungry. Large paper bags were already lined up on the long tables, waiting for us to place the meals inside. Outside on the patio, Ken, Larry, Herb, Cathy, and Mel were bantering about baseball while keeping an eye on the slabs of tri-tip, sizzling on the smoking grill. I met the Temple’s new resident minister, Yugo Fujita, who has just begun his tenure in Salinas.
When the meat was done, we donned gloves while preparing and placing the meat in containers, and then into the bags with bread and salad greens. Then some of us went outside to greet everyone who came by to pick up their meals.
Thanks to the Salinas Buddhist temple for providing us with space and a grill; and thanks to all those (including N. Salinas High student Sabrina Peralta) who volunteered to cook, weigh, and bag the meals, and to help our supporters carry out the bags. Thanks to Star Market for providing the excellent meat, and for promoting this event. We could not have done it without your help. We had a great turnout of ACE supporters — including re-elected Mayor Joe Gunter– who dropped by to pick up Tri-tip meals for takeout yesterday. I’m happy to report that all the meals were taken.
The tri-tip meals are, well–huge. At home, we ate half for lunch — and today we used the rest to make a great pot of chili for dinner!
Below are two photos from the event (we’ll post more later).
Henrietta Dursa, Al Baguio, and Cathy Chavez-Miller get ready to bag tri-tip, along with Charlotte Hirahara, Richard Villegas, and Jean Vengua (not in the photo).
Ken Dursa, Mel Aoki, Larry Hirahara, and Herb Wong talk baseball while grilling tri-tip. Also present (but not in the photo) were Henry Gong, and the new resident minister of the Buddhist Temple, Yugo Fujita.
— Jean Vengua, 11/13/2016
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