An absolutely awesome Kodai reunion has just concluded.  Everyone I have talked to has affirmed that it was worth the “pain” of every onion chopped, every dish washed, every piece of chicken and fish patiently turned on the grill, and every dollar spent.

Such an event as this can not exist without a huge body of people contributing to this enormous effort.   I write this to summarize this huge effort and to thank everyone for their participation.  This is how the reunion works:

Early in the spring of 2016 I contact our various volunteer alumni chefs to list their requirements.  I then visit a farmer’s market in June to place our food order.   Lebanon Farmer’s Market has poultry, dairy, meat, shrimp / fish and produce all under one roof. Negotiation with a local Amish grocer named Wilmer Kaufmann has resulted in his offer to pick up from the various vendors, and deliver all the food in his refrigerated truck.  My, my!  What produce and food we had!!!!   We  received huge ripe tomatoes, the sweetest melons, excellent beans, peeled garlic, ginger, beets, onions, yogurt, chicken, shrimp, beef and more.  Everything was of top quality, … And all at a discount!

First of all, thanks to Bob Coleman for keeping the books as well as taking registration as people arrived.  Rani, Teresa Teves and Joe Kessler also took registration  and took in money as people arrived.  THANKS!!!

Rani Maloney and her boyfriend Jeff Maegerlein stored a lot of reunion merchandise in their basement, and then rented a UHaul van to transport everything to the reunion.  We had Jeff’s tables, 10X10 canopies, two of Jeff’s propane burners, tents which were being stored for specific people, bedding for people flying in to Harrisburg, three dhekshis which are owned by the reunion, two huge coolers full of frozen blue fish which were all caught (one by one) by Jeff and Rani, Jeff’s deep fryers, grates for the wood / charcoal fire … And much more.  Thanks Jeff and Rani!!!

Rani and I loaded the van, and proceeded in two vehicles from New Jersey to Camp Kirchenwald in Pennsylvania  on Wednesday morning,  August 31.  Once there, we unloaded the van, took a beverage delivery, went to Sam’s club to pick up miscellaneous items, went to Redner’s supermarket to pick up items not available at Sam’s Club, and returned to camp to wait for the delivery of our pre ordered produce, dairy, poultry, and meat.  If you were  wondering where your food dollars went, you then discovered what awesome produce, meat, dairy and shrimp we had.

14 people arrived on Wednesday.  They helped us unload everything when it arrived.  Jack and Sarah Smith were there even before Rani and I arrived.  Sarah is a huge help in organizing the kitchen.  Mario Bellido brought 2 propane burners, and his fireman’s axe to chop wood when needed.  One “reunion starter” included Ted Hahn.  Ted produced a delicious chicken biriyani for us.  We were starving from all our exertion during loading, unloading and running around, and were extremely grateful for his excellent cooking.    So that is how the reunion actually gets started.

I want to recognize and thank the following people for their enormous contribution to cooking:  Ted Hahn — biriyani, sambar, goat curry, sambar, and veggie dishes.  Teresa Teves for Sri Lankan shrimp curry, and for arranging / cooking breakfast with  Jody Chrastek.  Mike Kolumban did his consistently excellent Dosai production.  Ron Nun. For an excellent egg and tomato curry!  Rani Maloney for made idlies, coconut chutney, aloo gobi, and beef keema.  Her keema was a hit at every lunch we served!

When one is cooking for a large group like this, many, many people cut up veggies, onions, and garlic.   It is a big group effort, and everyone sitting around in the pavilion socializing is subject to being approached with cutting board and produce with,  “Will you please cut these up?”  Thanks so much to all our cutters out there!!!!

Shashi Maloney and Dr. Rajani Malik  produced a constant supply of excellent veggie dishes which EVERYONE enjoyed!   I was grateful that both of these ladies were resourceful in finding “uncooked veggies” hiding in the walk in refrigerator.  They were successful in using up all our produce, so none was wasted!!!!,  This was an amazing accomplishment, since so often at the end of the reunion we have a lot of left overs.  A huge THANK YOU goes to Shashi and Rajani!!!!!

Shashi and Clarence and  their daughter, Iti Maloney also made Pongul and Oopuma for one breakfast.  Shashi’s chai was ever present.  It is so great to have people there like Shashi and Rajani who have all these wonderful Indian food recipes at their fingertips!!!!

One of the most tedious and labor consuming productions was the tandoori chicken roast.  We have Hans Schmitthenner to thank for this delicious offering.  He was supported by a crew consisting of many people.  I remember seeing Sabrina Edwards, Jeff Maegerlein, Hans, Mario Bellido and others slaving over the open fire from 10 AM to 6 PM, slow cooking each of 300 + pieces of chicken.  The tandoori was excellent, and enjoyed by all!   Shashi helped Hans make a huge pot of lemon rice … YUM!

Mario Bellido, Jeff Maegerlein, and others did a huge fish fry outside by the fire pit on the propane stoves, and on the wood fire.  I made a marinade and let the cut pieces “soak” for 30 minutes.   Then Jeff deep fried some, while Mario shallow fried (sautéed) other marinated fish pieces.  I stayed inside in the kitchen making a Kerala fish curry.  So we had three types of cooked blue fish: deep fried, sautéed, and fish curry being produced simultaneously.

One of my absolute favorite meals was the goat meat curry prepared by Ted Hahn, Ernie Hahn and Peter Schmitthenner.   Jack Smith brought the already butchered goat meat from a place near his farm in Indiana.   The goat was was slow cooked in our largest reunion dhekshi.  It was spiced perfectly!

Clean up crews did their job extremely well.  Thanks to the Riber family and various class “clean up projects” for this huge effort.   One thing I want to emphasize is the Monday final clean up crew:   Jack and Sarah Smith, Steve and Margaret Holler, Emily (Grumm) Jeske, Beth (Grumm) Kroger, Clarence and Shashi Maloney, Mario Bellido and myself.  This is a big job which requires surveying the entire property for trash pick up, as well as finalizing kitchen cleanliness.   I think we did well!  Thanks to all.   Please forgive me if I left anyone out;  It is unintentional.

I want to also thank Emily, Beth and Wendy Oesterling for organizing the Sunday service.  Wayne Alloway delivered one of the most touching homilies I have ever heard.   Wendy whipped our choir into shape, and we delivered some pretty good music … If I do say so myself!  Ellen (Dash) Walter (former staff … Drama and music at KIS) played the organ to accompany the service.  Thanks also to Dash for entertaining us with music and karaoke in the pavilion.  That was awesome!    The service and the music were additional highlights of our reunion.

I want to thank our presenters from India: Principal …  Corey Stixrud, Alika Khosla… Admissions and exchange students. Clarence Maloney, Joe Rittmann, … KIS environmental issues.  Julie Nichol … Our KFI Director.  Thanks to all!  You kept the attention of your audience, and you succeeded in generating some nice cash for KFI and environmental projects. Well done!!!

Otherwise, we enjoyed wine and cheese supplied by Bob Trautmann, played Jenga, swam in the large pool, took walks in the woods, went on the zip line, did rock climbing, tried the tree walk, and just enjoyed the beauty of the whole place.  What a grand time we had!!!  It was sad to see everyone depart as we closed the camp on Monday noon, September 5, 2006.

See you next year!

Bob Edwards