The Cro Po

I've just come back from a Cro Po. That's right - a Crock Pot party.

It was at the house of a couple of my sister's friends in Palo Alto. It was pretty well-attended; there was probably 30 people, and about a dozen Crock Pots. There was some good stuff--some good beef, various cobbler-esque items for dessert--and some weird stuff, such as a chocolate cake. My mom once made a cake in the Crock Pot, and this one came out the same: really rubbery. You could have taken it out of the pan and shaken it, and it would have wiggled like crazy. But I'm getting ahead of myself: Who makes a cake in the Crock Pot, anyway?

"Cro Po" (Crō Pō) was the appointed name of this gathering, though I think it missed out on the obvious "Crock Potluck" pun.

My sister made a Crockin' Potfull of Hoppin' John that was terrific, and some rice (in a normal pot) to accompany it. Good stuff. There was one Pot that caused some problems, however. It looked exactly like Funeral Potatoes--or any comparable cheesy-potato type dish--but upon closer examination, it turned out to be another peach cobbler. Lesson: examine your food closely before eating it. It may be in disguise.

My sister's been planning to have a Casserole Cook-Off for a while... an evening for folks to get together and eat White Trash Casseroles (she hangs out with real gourmet-food types. That's partly why the Cro Po was so delightful). I thought it was a terrific idea, but I'm realizing that it wouldn't really work in Provo. Instead of it being tongue-in-cheek and ironic, people would actually try to make the best casserole. It just doesn't work if the people being made fun of are also in attendance at the event.