There are nights when I come home from a Troop meeting, wondering why I bother with this; the boys aren't interested, the parents just want to go home, it's the same garbage Monday after Monday.

Tonight finally broke the mold.

Back in February, I tossed out an idea to have a Cast Iron Chef meeting: the Scouts plan a dutch oven meal, and the winning patrol gets (something). Lots of "Orville, that will never fly" commentary.

The Scoutmaster and I finally sold the Senior Patrol Leader on the idea, and he found a young Scout who was willing to organize it.

The young Scout in charge has been hauling mass for the last month, getting materials and plans and schedules and resources together. Last week was menu planning, each patrol was assigned a meal and one mandatory ingredient.

Tonight, I got there at 6 to start the charcoal, the cooks got there between 6 and 6:30. By 7:15, everything was on the fire. At 7:45, we had:

- beef stew
- chicken pot pie
- lasagna
- peach dump cake
- chocolate cake

They ALL tasted good. ALL the boys got involved. ALL the boys had fun. ALL the parents got to watch their boys getting involved and having fun. The Scout in Charge got Well Done talks from all the adult leaders.

The boys want more. The leaders want more. The parents want more.

Finally. It worked. Real Scouting. I may not stop smiling for another day and a half.