Getting ahead

Well, I WANTED to be here at work at 7:30 am yesterday morning. Instead I was here about 7:50. Need to do a little work on that.

Good weekend. I went with two friends down to IKEA in Charlotte.

This is what I bought for my office.

This is for my desk or my credenza

This is it's big brother for my floor

These will go on my desk to hold things like rubber bands ..

And finally three small votive holders in this same color.

(and then I got some hot-pads for my kitchen, some napkins, and tea light candles for the house.)

I love the soft light that now illuminates my office! Woo-hoo. I should have art work arriving this week too. When I get it, I will show you individual pieces.

Now I'm off to setup my quick ribbons for Word and Excel.

Well, I survived the first week.

Well, I survived the first week.

What can I tell you about where I'm working?

They move FAST. Really, really fast. The corporate culture is a combination of cheerleader squad and programming moles. What dose that mean? It means every new hire is expected to send out an eMail introducing themselves to the 100+ other employees. (I finally did it this morning.) Everyone is chipper, and cheerful, and NO ONE says anything bad about ANYONE. (Well - except I had lunch with my boss of Friday. She rocks! We have the same attitude and humor. Clearly we will be the two outliers to the cheer-leading team.)

Already a few people have commented on my high energy and positive attitude. Which is a good thing. The high energy is easy. That's who I am. The positive attitude, well - I mean, I am a cup-half full person. I'm willing to give people (and processes) a chance. But NEVER saying a bad thing about someone? This worries me. I have a good friend who encouraged me to stay "a little bit in the background" when I started (totally paraphrasing her words btw). To keep my stories to a minimum and focus on the company. I can't say I've succeeded (*sigh*), but I am TRYING to keep my mouth shut (not succeeding) and not say anything negative about people in general.

The other thing I've come to realize is this particular job tracks all time in 15 minute increments - AND 60% of my time must be billable hours. So far in my professional life I've never had to track time or have my activities evaluated as "billable" or "overhead". I've decided I'm just not going to worry about this. BUT I am also giving myself stern lectures about not getting lost "in the details" - and not looking at projects and requiring small things to be perfect. This is ALSO not my forte. But we can all grow and improve, right?

All last week (and the next two weeks) are training classes on how to use the tool we sell and setting up our database. There are two other new hires from my department in these sessions PLUS three new salesmen. Next week will be all in-depth implementation process training. The week after that, we start shadowing a mentor. On 4/13 I give my first webinar. By the end of April I'll have given 7 webinars. In many ways they are different and easier than the webinars I created for my old employer. The content has already been established. There are written scripts to follow. They (the departmental team) has already outlined the data content - and I think there are going to be fewer pieces to manage. (In the other webinars I managed sound, 3 applications, a web browser, PLUS the webinar tool and a crazy phone/microphone setup.) We had a literal pre-flight checklist to go through to make sure everything was setup right. Here - I'll only be managing one 1 application and a phone. Plus - they've already established the checklists.

I guess that's the other thing I've noticed. It's a department of women. Very cooperative women. They have vast amounts of check-lists and resources and are very happy to share them and pass them around. Which also means the eMail volume is HUGE. Thankfully on my first day I started setting up eMail rules - and so I feel like I'm on-top of the deluge with non-critical eMails going directly to sub-folders and not overwhelming my in-box. 

So - that's the report post week one. 

Chef Logic

So - trying to find rock salt isn't easy. At least if you're lazy before an approaching storm - and don't want to fight the masses at a hardware store.

What do you do? You improvise while you're at the grocery store.

Which takes you from this:

To this with little effort:

And if you're smart - you do it when it's at the perfect melt point - so you're shoveling these:

It's 36 degrees - on our way to a high of 40. You can tell this is progress, because look! You can see the man-hole cover.

But you know what REALLY makes a chef smile?

If you want the full scope of pictures of snow (with snarky commentary - I know you are SHOCKED) you may go here.

Food Wednesday - the numbers are good

So - Did I tell you we're getting a new front load washer and dryer at church? We are. Tomorrow.

I am so excited. The old dryer died about 3 weeks ago. It and the washer were 15-year old cast-offs from the parsonage. They'd been stored in the basement. A damp basement - as they were rusted in the weirdest places. (Like the dryer door - inside). To say they were temperamental is to be understated. No matter what cycle you choose for the washer, it took 40 minutes for it to wash. Even on the "normal" cycle, medium load. Do you know how long 40 minutes is when you're trying to wash and dry 30-8x5 tablecloths?  Of course, since the dryer would turn itself off from overheating while it dried the tablecloths, it didn't really matter it was taking 40 minutes for the wash cycle.

I hesitated to gripe. It's only in the last two years we had a washer and dryer. Before that - we had a "laundry service". And apparently that was the cook taking home the bar-back towels, dishtowels, aprons, and tablecloths Which was certainly NEVER going to happen with me. Rumors persisted about a professional laundry service prior to the laundry via cook ... but when I was using the kitchen I could only tell we had about 10 cleaning towels - and they were used OVER AND OVER AND OVER - because the laundry hadn't been delivered yet. (talk about nasty and non-sanitary)

So besides death of the dryer, WHY are we getting a new washer/dryer? (plus a lot of other things?) Because in the 3-months I've been managing the kitchen, I've MADE a profit. It sounds weird to me. I just thought I'd saved them money and stayed in the budget. But apparently they look at not being over budget AND having money leftover at the end of the year as "making money". Instead of contributing it back to the General Fund, they're willing to fund my "need" list for the kitchen.

Besides the normal maintenance budget I have another $3k to manage. Hence the new washer/dryer. And 10 quart mixer. Plus two new 6 foot shelving racks for badly needed storage and a 6 foot stainless-steel work table to hold the coffee and ice tea service and the mixer! I am SO excited.

Also? Numbers are funny, aren't they? (Well - to me they are). In February I'm going to make Orecchiette con broccoli. (First link is Italian, second is English). At the grocery store I can get the Orecchiette pasta on sale 2 lbs for $5.00. So for 10 lbs of pasta I'd be at $25.00. Sometimes our food purveyor has a better price than retail. I wrote and asked him for a price check. Then didn't hear from him for a few days. So I went to this great wholesale/retail place, Capri Flavors, last week. There, I was able to buy a CASE of the pasta for $29.00 dollars. (20 lbs, which is more than I need, but I'll use it up.) I went ahead and bought it. I was feeling like a bad steward of funds - because I was sure the "National Food Purveyor" was going to be cheaper than $1.49 a pound.

On Monday I got an eMail from said purveyor. I almost fell over in my office. $150 for 10 lbs of Orecchiette. Can you imagine??? Clearly I declined that offer.

So - go me. Saving money, coming in under budget, now if I can just get my hours down to 15/week, (hahahahhah) I'll be in good shape.

Speaking of "good shape" I had the best work crew last night. (plus a ridiculously easy menu). My friend Meg came in and helped me put together 4 Cowboy Casseroles (using leftover ham instead of sausage) to serve 100).   While she did that I made 4 Orange Marmalade French Toast Casseroles. Then "Chef Dudley" arrived. He normally cooks the amazing Italian or French inspired Valentine's Day Musical Extravaganza meal for our church variety show. In two hours he quickly and efficiently helped me cook off 20 lbs of bacon and 24 lbs of sausage patties. (It's Pajama Night, I'm making breakfast for dinner, if you can't tell.) Then I quartered 20 lbs of oranges - and was done with all the prep work in 6 hours! 

Finally today I'll make 300 pancakes which will be served with whipped cream, chocolate chips, and "fruit melody" (ie: frozen blueberries, strawberries,  and blackberries). And of course regular and sugar free syrup. 

Happy Food Wednesday everyone! 

Picture this: 150

A church multi-purpose room full of people eating. 150 people.


The cook, who thinks there will only be 2 people helping to clean up, is already back in the kitchen trying to organize the dirty hotel pans, cooking sheets, stock pots, cooking ladles, spoons and spiders.

Suddenly someone hails her through the dirty dish window. It's the Good Doctor, aka Dr. Whiney, red-faced, sweaty, and breathing hard. "Holy Crap," he said. "That's a lot of people out there!"

He appeared, because the church is located on one of the only flat roads here in Raleigh. It's a favored jogging path by those who punish their bodies that way. Four miles of sidewalk (also another rarity in this town) to run up and down. (round trip)

I was glad to see him, but kind of stunned. It's not like I haven't SAID how many people I cook for weekly. Later, when I got home I gave him a call. "What have you been thinking when I say, 'I'm cooking for 150-200 people'?", I asked him.

Apparently HEARING and SEEING are two different things. So here's some visuals for you.

We have 5 rows of 2 8-foot long trestle tables set up for people to eat at. 

We have 3 8-foot long tables set up for the salad bar (over 15 items)

We have 2 8-foot long tables set up for the dessert table

and 1 8-foot long table set up for the "kids" menu.

A hotel pan is 19 1/2 inches long  x 11 1/2 inches wide. 

The come in 3 depths. 

"shallow" 1 inch deep 

"medium" 2 1/2 inches deep

"deep" at 4 inches

In terms of visualizing this - think of an 8 1/2 x 11 sheet of paper. A hotel pan is almost twice as long as that piece of paper, and as wide as the 11 inch length of the paper. 

Capacity is measured in terms of liquid quantity, or quarts (which isn't too useful for visualization), so I'll turn it into gallons for you. (Think of milk).

Shallow = 2 gallons

Medium = 3 1/2 gallons

Deep = 5.25 gallons

It's difficult to determine the fill weight of these pans - because different things weight different amounts (d'uh). But this will give you an idea.

A shallow pan filled only with water weighs almost 17 lbs. (1 gallon of water = 8.35 lbs)

I often work with medium pans. So that's 30 lbs per pan.

Here's what I cooked last night:

4 shallow pans of rice = < 17 lbs each (I think I was using about 2 1/2 lbs of rice per pan, before cooking). 

Three of those shallow pans of rice were turned into medium sized pans of "Not-so-Dirty" Rice (I left out the chicken livers, but added sliced smoked andouille sausage). A completed pan was close to 40 pounds. Also figured to be about  30 servings per pan. 

We had Canjun Sweet Potatoes. That was 40 lbs of sweet potatoes peeled and sliced into French fry-like sticks. There were three medium hotel pans - after we used bun pans to roast them. A bun pan is a HUGE (25 3/4 inches x 17 3/4 inch) cookie sheet. With nothing on them they weigh about 4 lbs each. We used about 8-10 to roast off the fries.

Next up were the smothered greens. They finally cooked down into 2 medium hotel pans. Again 20+ pounds and 45 servings per pan.

Dessert was Peach Upside-down Cake. 5 shallow hotel pans. Easily 25 lbs and 24 servings per pan. 

Then there was the children's meal. 92 pieces of chicken nuggets (3 bun pans) (children under 10 yrs) and 38 breaded chicken tenders (2 bun pans) (youth - 10 years and older). Plus one shallow hotel pan of plain rice and 1 shallow hotel pan of sweet potatoes cooked with brown sugar and marshmallows *shudder*.

In total I cooked for 100 adults and 38 children, so slightly less than 150 people.

Got the picture?

And it all came to pass

Good morning ... I see after the torrential rains last night my house and trees are still standing.  Kind of like me after the torrential stress of getting dinner cooked last night. (although I heard a big wha-bang and thump last night - so I think I need to look at my roof again, cause I don't see any fallen trees).

This is a long story. And I know I haven't been around for a long time. So if you want the Reader's Digest version of today's story and the last two weeks:

Get sick, cook for 47 hours in 3-days while sick, help a friend buy a car (man does paperwork take a long time), then cook, cook, take newish car to dealership for some work and sit there for 3-hours, cook, cook, and cook (even when I wasn't "working"). I ended up cooking 3 T'giving meals on three different days. (77 people, 20 people, & 15 people respectively). And may I also mention "stress, stress, stress?" And still sounding  like a barking seal with this cough that won't go away? The end.  

But today's post deals with dinner last night. 

Tuesday night I'd lost sleep over how I was going to improvise cooking of the Poulet au Vinaigre (vinegar chicken) for this weeks Wednesday night dinner.  

That was an accurate foreshadowing of my stressful day. 

It began when I had to make a paper goods run - which I wasn't planning on doing - and got out of the house an hour later than I anticipated.  So instead of beginning to cook at 1pm, I didn't get stared until about 2pm. 

Plus - my best volunteer - who is also an amazing cook - and cooks for large groups - and I can give a huge list of things to do (like "make the sweet-tea, lemonade, coffee & then set up the warming table and then come see me for your next job") and he gets it all done, and quickly, and without a billion questions, and does it QUICKLY and can do about four more things for me ... called in sick. So I was stressed beyond belief at the beginning of the day.

However, once again my friend Beth came to help out - and she TOTALLY gets the "Friendship Medal of Honor" for going above and beyond the call of duty. She's the one who put together the lime/chile vinegarette for the squash, and diced the shallots/roasted the garlic for the Poulet au Vinaigre.  And she doesn't even ATTEND MY CHURCH.

But before Beth showed up - and after I knew my "right-hand man" wasn't going to be there I struggled with the stupid roll-ups/pin-wheels which were part of the appitizer. (And also? They were only on the menu 'cause they were supposed to be made 2 weeks before and there was a sudden change in plans and didn't get used - and I didn't want the ingredients going to waste.) Normally I'd NEVER make appetizers for a Wednesday Dinner. That's just CRAZY talk. 

Tuesday night I made the filling  - and had it out at room temperature long enough to be malleable when I went to spread it, but man - rolling those things up?!? They were a pain in the butt. Well, not the rolling - more like figuring out how to get them to roll up with the filling even to the ends - and then cutting them without smooshing them into pin-oblongs or pin-trapizoids. I got frustrated after trying to cut ONE - and so just rolled them up - and put them in the fridge to firm up - and made someone else cut them later. (ha!) 

It still bugs me that I can't figure out an engineering solution to get the spread evenly distributed when they're rolled. I did start squaring off the tortillas (so great - another step - and more time) - but STILL THEY DIDN'T LOOK PERFECT. (more crazy talk, I know)

Then the chicken SUCKED ... because it's poultry. And I am freaky when I'm cooking for the public about not spreading salmonella/chicken-juice death from one end of the kitchen to the other. 

Usually I work with frozen chicken which minimizes this concern. But this time I was doing fresh - 'cause I wanted crispy skin. Which means drippy chicken-death on my hands, the sink where I opened the packages, on the counter AND THE FLOOR where I spilled the drippy-death as I placed the chicken in the cooking pans. So there was some extra time (that I didn't have to spare) spent on cleaning/sanitizing work surfaces as I moved from place to place spreading and cleaning up the germy-evil.

Because I wanted to deglaze those chicken cooking pans, I couldn't use baking sheets with parchment paper (which keeps stuff from sticking and holds more chicken pieces per pan). Instead I had 13 hotel pans (12x20) of chicken. Which of course took more room in the convection oven. Leaving not much room for anything else to cook. 

I have 8 racks available (in the configuration that will hold these deeper pans) - and I used 6 of them with chicken. So no room for the rice or the squash. (But I wasn't worried about the rice - 'cause I made that at 3pm - and then kept it in the hot-box.)

Anyway - the chicken got cooked off - and then I had no where to put it while I let someone else deglaze the pans - because it was 5 pm - and we were 50 minutes away from serving time - and the squash wasn't cut or cooking yet, and I'm the only one with good enough knife skills to cut acorn squash into 3/4 inch wedges without lopping off fingers and wrists. So I knew I needed to spend my time on this and not trying to make the sauce correctly. 

And if you see how disjointed this story is - that's how I felt trying to cook yesterday. Not enough room to take chicken out of the oven so it wouldn't over cook, not enough room to prep the squash while people were cutting up all the crap for the salad bar (which I hate with a purple passion) - and the sauce got started late ... and the cobblers still weren't dished into individual servings and, and, and ...

... the sauce - that is supposed to deglaze, then have garlic paste & shallots added while it sautés with white wine, red wine vinegar & tomato paste, then go back over the chicken to cook for another 45 minutes - THEN HAVE THE CHICKEN REMOVED from the sauce and the put back in the oven to crisp the skin while the sauce is further reduced & finished with butter so it's this beautiful, thick, silky sauce?? ... Well THAT didn't happen. 

Instead the pans were deglazed, stuff sautéed, and dumped back over the chicken and served. 

The squash came out at the VERY LAST POSSIBLE MINUTE (which I guess is a good thing, 'cause it was hot - and I didn't want it sitting in the hot box getting mushy or on the line cooling off before serving) ... but it was STRESSFUL - 'cause everything else was ready to go - and we were waiting on squash.

AND?!?

EVERYONE RAVED about the meal. I mean really, they went ON AND ON AND ON. 

Plus - I cooked EXACTLY the right amounts this time. Everyone GOT chicken - and there was none left over. I probably threw away - 2 quarts of rice - and no squash or bread. And they liked the peach & blueberry cobblers. And the spicy sausage phyllo dough triagles & the cream cheese/olive/pimento pin wheels with just a hint of chipolte chile in adobo sauce blended in there.

So - what's the moral of all of this?

Well - one thing is I REALLY need more people (or even just "someone") helping me out on Tuesday nights prepping everything.

But I guess most importantly - while I am crazed - and trying to do 10 things at once - and yelling orders (nicely) at everyone, and frustrated that they are not slicing/dicing quick enough and GOOD LORD HOW MANY QUESTIONS DO THEY NEED TO ASK WHILE I'M TRYING TO COUNT??!!?? ... and while I'm totally sure everything is going to be a disaster - and never be served on time - God keeps coming through. 

With another last minute pair of hands - with sending me a brilliant suggestion on how to improvise on a cooking method - with another two spare bags of chicken in the freezer - and countless other little moments of grace and salvation.

The end result is the dinner has always been ready. On time (so far). And tastes good. (and no one has gotten food poisoning, yet) 

So - totally a God thing. 

And I don't think I express that very well, here or in the kitchen. 

But in my mind/heart, I know.

Rise and Shine ... or

at least I arose! (and now know what Jesus must have felt like on the third-day)

I know it appears that I have fallen off the face of the earth because I have not been blogging (or responding to eMails or phone calls).

In reality - I have fallen into "Oh my God - ONE PERSON cannot cook for 170,000 people by themselves hell" (Okay - you caught me. I was exaggerating. 17,000 people.) (You don't believe that number??? How about 170? 'Cause that's what I've been trying to do ... or ... another name for it might be "Cooking Suicide for One".)

So in the last two weeks I've had this crazy "part-time" schedule.

Tuesday - spend 2 hours shopping for food to feed the masses for the Wednsday Night Dinner. (TWO HOURS SHOPPING!! Do you know what purgatory that is for me??) Then spend 8 hours prep work cooking Tuesday night. Then 12 hours on Wednesday - cooking/cleaning/telling people what to do for the Wednesday Dinner. (okay - the last part is a lot of fun - and I only wish I could tell some of them WHERE TO GO also).

But last week it changed to FRIDAY NIGHT spend 5 hours prep cooking for the Holiday Bazaar on Saturday. Which was followed by 4 hours on Saturday with finishing the cooking (but thankfully NOT responsible for serving or cleaning up!) for the Bazaar luncheon. On Sunday - I was sick. Sick, sick, sick, sick I'll never get out of bed, sick. And worrying about the upcoming Monday, Tues, Wed. when I had a T'giving lunch and Wednesday night dinner to cook for still.

The fact that you are reading this incredibly long missive is proof that I live. (Although "fully-functioning" and "sane" are not to be implied.)

So - at some delusional point yesterday (after working 41 hours in 3-days) I was thinking I'd be really productive today - on my "day off" and had a list of about 15 things that would be "quick and easy" to get done. But now - that I've interrupted some much needed sleep with wakefulness I feel all glassy-eyed and cotton-headed.  Perhaps I should shorten my (as always) over-enthusiastic To-Do-List to just 3 or  4 things - and call it a day? (Among those things - clean the house - go to the farmers market and cook dinner for the Girls-N-The-Hood dinner tonight. Thankfully I only have to provide a clean house, nicely set table, and the main course!)

Yesterday for Wednesday Night Dinner - I made what I think was the most awful thing EVER. (and totally by the seat of my pants)

Because, you know, I had left-over EVERYTHING from the fluctuating Tuesday Thanksgiving Lunch Crowd of "It-will-only-be-45-people, No, wait-67-people, Ops-we-forgot-to-say-"no"-to-the-past-the-deadline-people-it's-77-people" - which turned out to only be sixty senior-citizen type people that really showed up. (the Sr. Citizen part was the ONLY part that wasn't a surprise.)

On Monday when I bought more than $800 dollars worth of groceries (for the two meals). I ended up buying a third turkey - because I wasn't sure previously purchased 44 lbs of turkey would feed 77 people. (And by the way? They looked gorgeous - and I <3 convection ovens that cook 3-22 lbs turkeys in 2 hours and 45 minutes.) - and then we (okay my LOVELY friend Meg who went ABOVE AND BEYOND) carved the turkeys and we FREAKED THE HELL OUT. Only one hotel pan of white meat and a 1/2 pan of dark meat.

And then everyone took little-itty-bitty-bird-size portions (because I asked them too - and now feel foolish) which they would have done ANYWAY - because THEY ARE OLD PEOPLE and do not eat much. *sigh*

But the real point was I had two 1-gallon Ziplock bags of turkey left over at the end of the meal. And tons of fresh green beans and stuffing and mashed (omgoodness they were good with buttermilk and chives and bacon) potatoes. And just couldn't see throwing it away - and since it had been on the warming table it really COULDN'T go to the rescue mission.

So I changed the Wed. night menu (which was a good thing, because I was on cleanup by-myself until five o'clock - and NO ONE besides one person showed up for Tuesday night prep work) and I'd never have been able to cook the original menu by myself, so now I'm rethinking (and not too enthusiastically what the future dinners will consist of). *sigh*

But anyway, back to what they ate Wed night. So I made these casseroles (gag-in-general about casseroles made from leftovers) for dinner. On the bottom layer I crumbled up the stuffing. Then I mixed the chopped turkey and green beans & roast onions together and made a layer. Then I covered it with the mashed (chunky) potatoes and baked them (with out any extra moisture - and I think next time I'd use some of the leftover turkey-giblet stock to just make everything a little soppy). When I took them out of the oven to serve them, I ladled gravy over the top. (and the potato layer was all crispy on top before the gravy addition - but apparently that was a "good thing").

Truly - I thought they were horrendous. But the people???? They RAVED. Some said they even thought it was THE BEST MEAL SO FAR. (Well I also had some way yummy braised short-ribs on the menu as a 'taste', but not the main course, and they WERE rave worthy). (And I am also thinking about banning those people from the "The best meal so far" category and wanting to ban them from ever eating one of my meals again - because WTF - "Leftovers are THE BEST thing you've eaten that I've cooked???)

I didn't believe they (the casseroles) really tasted good - although people kept coming up to me and telling me so, until I heard one woman tell her friend, "You know that spot in the middle of your Thanksgiving plate? Where everything kind of comes together? And it's all that mixed-up yummy-ness - and you wait to eat that spot - and it's the BEST PART EVER? I think that's what tonight's casserole was like! Man, I wish I could just mix up my whole plate like that before dinner!"

So - I guess they were telling the truth about liking them.

And also? I guess that's the difference between some of us. Because ME? That middle part - where stuff gets all gooshed together?? ... Is to be AVOIDED AT ALL COSTS!! "Yicky-yucky-things-touching-each-other-without-harmony" is my thought.

So - that's my story and those are my thoughts. The "mooshed-togethers" and the "purists" shall never be happy together on this earth. (Or at the same dinner table.)

Happy Thursday everyone - get ready for your own Turkey Day - and be sure and kiss the person who carves the turkey - 'cause it's a BITCH.

(ps: Not to be irreverent - but I totally AM) There are times when we run out of food (like a specific time on the menu). Either because more people showed up than expected - or I didn't calculate quantities well. On those occasions, when we're out - the volunteer staff will come back and say, "We need more X." And I'll say, "We're out" (also without remorse or panic, which I think irritates them) ... and they say, "Can't you make some more?" And what I really want to say is, "ARE YOU FUCKING CRAZY?!?" because this is not a restaurant where you can just cook a few more plates of food or make up something different. Everything we have is out there. But what I have been saying is, (points-to-self) "Not Jesus".

Which should be correctly interpreted as, "I cannot multiply "nothing" into more food." Especially once all the fishes and loaves HAVE BEEN CONSUMED. </irreverent humor>

Fascinating Rhythm

I haven't written - and somehow NABLOPOMO managed to sneak up on me - and I've let it go by. This is the first time in 4 years I haven't participated.

Perhaps I've reached the perfect amount of busy. I know there's a sweet spot rhythm for me. Busy enough that I can't procrastinate - but not too busy so I'm overwhelmed.

Last week - it felt like I was there (and this week too).  

Both Monday's started with the JobSeeker's group. Last week I spent some time with one of the directors explaining to her how webinars work. After - I grabbed some lunch with Beth - dropped off a Tupperware container - and came home and finalized my grocery list for the morning.

Then I went out. Kinda (unbeknown to me) on a date.

Tuesday - Beth and I were at Sam's Club bright and early. I cannot tell you how grateful I am for all of Beth's help and company. Shopping for 150-200 people is a two cart experience - and there's no way I could do it by myself - without knocking over displays, running over people, and bursting into tears.

We had all the stuff purchased - and unloaded at the church by 11 am. Three hours of shopping/loading/unloading/re-arranging freezers/refrigerators.

Then I came home and took care of ... "stuff". Expense reports, budgets, correspondence. At 2 pm I went back and started the prep work. I had to stop for a meeting for an hour between 6:30 and 7:30 pm - which really kind of ruined my kitchen rhythm - and of course - the back started to rebel about 10pm - which forced me to clean up and come home even though my "to-do" list wasn't done.

Yesterday - in the morning ... I uhhh - did stuff around the house. Folded all my laundry from last week - took the TWENTY-SIX BAGS OF LEAVES to the curb - and I don't know what all until 11:30. When I went to the store to buy MORE BANANAS for the banana bread. (Some of the frozen 'nanners got thrown away that I had defrosting. Important lesson to learn - put notes on things).

I was back at church by noon - I made two more double recipes of the banana bread 8 loaves, caramelized onions for the garnishment, and then started directing the volunteers who showed up to help. I felt bad. I'd expected to get all the salad bar prep (slicing cucumbers, bell-peppers, mushrooms, etc.) out of the way Tuesday night. And then - I thought I was going to have help earlier on Wed - and they'd finish off the dessert so I could concentrate on the salad prep - but - nope. 

At 4 pm I was pretty stressed and feeling like I was an hour behind. But all these lovely people (sent by God I am sure) just showed up - and allowed me to bark orders at them - and we got it done!

Salad bar (with 20 different items) was ready to go by 5pm. Warming table with roasted broccoli, peas, pasta dish, and rolls were ready to go at 5:30 pm. They didn't start the blessing 'till 5:45 - and people didn't actually start through the line until 6-6:10pm-ish.

I got lots of compliments on the pasta - and was glad to hear them as it was kind of "California" cooking and NOT Southern cooking. In honor of missing multiple Food Wednesdays, here's the recipe. Of course, I modified it slightly. I used some arugula instead of basil with the spinach - and I mixed both greens into the pasta. (Until it wilted down, it looked more like a spinach salad with pasta). I cooked off chicken breasts and diced them instead of rotisserie chicken and omitted the marjoram.  

Last Thursday - I had another meeting with the webinar client - and finished laundry (cooks white soak forever to get clean), washed my breakfast dishes, and started to clean out my filing cabinet with the 2007/8 stuff (yes, I know) and get it up into the attic so I can file my 2009 stuff.  (which I finally COMPLETED today. *sigh*)

This week - well - I am giving the date thing a second chance tonight. I won't say a lot - just that I feel like I'm stuck in this slow motion movie - and everyone is moving faster - and I don't want to catch up to them. I'm kind of angry with myself for giving this a second chance - and not being clear on the first encounter - and know I need to set the record straight tonight. However, "Welcome to my home for dinner - here's the rules" sounds a bit "sledge-hammer like" (and we know that's exactly how I am) ... and well - I don't want to ruin the food. Maybe over dessert?

Brought to you by Ketchup/Catch-up

Hello! Yes I am still among the living. Although by the end of Wednesday night I was not so sure.

When I last wrote, I thought I'd suffered the biggest insult to my cooking dignity with the chicken nugget/fish-sliders menu.

THAT WAS SO MONDAY.

And does not even come close to Tuesday's menu atrocity.

Once again, I must remind myself (and you) these menus and products (notice how I say products and not food choices?) were not of my choosing. OBVIOUSLY.

Tuesday was:

Pork Chops

Peas

Rice

Not a bad menu, right? WRONG, WRONG, WRONG!!

The main course should have been called "Crumb encrusted ground pork-product with textured soy protein in the vague shape of a shark's fin".

Seriously.

Doesn't that sound appetizing?

You know - the first week I cooked I ranted and raved about how no one could do this job single handedly. What I learned is that if you're using all pre-cooked items (that will steal your soul) - you're not really a "cook" you are a mere "warmer". And it is possible to serve and deliver 65 portions of crap by yourself.

It's also helpful when ALL the ingredients for the day are actually PRESENT in the kitchen when you walk in. Which I experienced only twice in this whole ugly episode of cooking for children.

Also knowing HOW you'll be preparing items is useful. *shurg*

I know - that's a revolutionary idea - to communicate to the "warmer-upper" what they'll be ... flinging to the masses.

Tuesday's menu also illustrated to me why we have so many picky eaters today. And also why people are unadventurous in their eating habits. And are lovers of salt.

I couldn't believe anyone would want their child to eat what I fixed. Those "pork chops" - were pre-cooked and pre-fried. I placed them on a cookie sheet, shark-shape-fin to shark-shape-fin and warmed them up for 8 minutes. As they warmed the grease bubbled up out of them.

I could have really "sped up the process" by microwaving them. (which was a suggested heating instruction on the package) YUM YUM. Rubberized pork-product w/textured soy. What every child dreams of!

Rice is good. And thankfully this was just par-boiled rice and not instant rice. However - boring white rice. There's a reason unexciting things are referred to as "white rice". I briefly thought about making Rici e Bici (Rice & Beans) ... but ...

next to the pork chops - the worst item on the menu was the peas. I knew with each #10 can I opened, I'd be ruining some small child's love for vegetables - peas in particular. WHO THE HELL likes canned peas? They are mushy. They are slick. They are the color of worn out army fatigues. Even worse - these we labeled "sweet peas".

... there was no way I was going to ruin the rice by putting these in Rici e Bici!

I want VIBRANT green, al dente peas on my plate (or in my rice) thank you very much. And I think that's what children would want too.

Finally there is the issue of KETCHUP. (You know, I use to laugh at Garrison Keillor and his bits on the Prairie Home Companion "Brought to you by the Ketchup Advisory Board. NO LONGER WILL I LAUGH.)

You know how everyone is going on-and-on about kids being hyped up on sugar? How harmful processed sugar is? How sugar is EVIL and should be avoided? WHAT THE HELL ABOUT KETCHUP??

Apparently I committed the final cooking crime against God, man, and small children by not sending out ketchup with the fried sharks-shaped-pork&textured-soy-product.

DO YOU KNOW WHAT THE SIDES OF KETCHUP CONTAINERS SAY???

20% "real tomatoes".

The rest? Is corn syrup and "sugar". Not to mention "dried garlic powder" and a sting of chemical letters and numbers that cannot be good to ingest.

So - let's limit sugar - and squeeze on the ketchup! (stupid people)

It's true. Almost as much as I hate slick-plastic cheese, I hate ketchup. It obscures the taste of anything it touches.

People might as well sprinkle sugar on their French fries as far as I'm concerned. Seriously. I understand ketchup on hamburgers. And hot dogs. A nice counter point to the spice of the hot dog - and a little sweet to balance the sour of the dill pickle on your burger. But otherwise - (unless it's cocktail sauce) ketchup is WRONG, WRONG, WRONG.

Thankfully the "real" person responsible for warming up crap started work Tuesday. From now on I'm only cooking the Wednesday night dinners.

GROWN UP FOOD for everyone!

REAL FOOD! That is cooked!

Almost all FROM SCRATCH!

(okay - it's true - Wednesday night I made cupcakes from boxed cake mix) and I didn't make the hot dog buns from scratch. Nor did I make the hot dogs myself - or the sausages (although I DO want to make my own sausage and squeeze it into real casings!)

But still - Wednesday night's menu made my heart sing - and made me proud to stand in my chef's whites at the end of the serving line.

The only mar on that meal was ... there wasn't enough. I was told 207 for dinner. I cooked for 227.

There were more than 250 people who showed up. The biggest turnout EVER.

AND?

Many of them took 3 & 4 hot dogs/sausages apiece.

*sigh*

Now - I'm off to rake the yard, dream up next week's menu, search for a job and clean my house!

Happy Friday everyone. I missed you!

I which Mit makes the Baby Jesus Cry

Today ... was MONDAY. In every sense of the word.

It stared when the menu (that I didn't make and wasn't asked to confirm ingredients on) listed breakfast as "cereal". 

Only? 

There WAS NO cold cereal. 

Had anyone bothered on Friday, a check of the PANTRY would have revealed that information. (Let us quietly review the "Quick Grits vs. Instant Grits" scene from last week in which COLD cereal saved the day.)

So I made oatmeal. But apparently "oatmeal" isn't "CEREAL." This is when the Baby Jesus started to get cranky. 

I dressed up the oatmeal with bowls of brown sugar and raisins on the side, but it was as if I'd added rat turds and ground mothballs. Apparently Baby Jesus isn't use to such "airs" in the south.

The next hurdle that furthered Baby Jesus' bad day was lunch. 

Normally the food order is placed on Thurs. and delivered on Friday. Last week "management" placed it on Friday. It would arrive "on Monday morning" I was told.

Lunch was slated to be meatloaf. Of course I had to ask if it was made from scratch - or "pre-made". 

The Answer? 

"Oh, it's not JUST pre-made! IT'S EVEN PRE-SLICED!!! 

(Clearly they considered this a boon - and I'd beg to differ.) 

"You just put the slices in the microwave to warm up," they told me. (gag) 

And the potatoes? Apparently frozen - like hash browns, but red-skinned 'taters (also easy to 'cook' in the microwave).

At 9:15 when I delivered (the unexpected) breakfast menu, I asked WHEN the food order was arriving. "Oh, It's usually here between 10 and 10:30," I was told.

10:40  arrived. (and left)

No food order. 

I call the Director and ask her for an ETA. 

She calls to "track it down". 

At 11:10 the Director and and Admin. Assistant show up to see what "WE" can do because they have no idea when the order is going to show up.

When my august visitors arrived in the kitchen I was doing an inventory of all the freezers, refrigerators, and the pantry . When they said, "There are chicken nuggets in there," I was in a good place to tell them, "Only one package. It says it serves 20."

"Oh, look! Your list says 'Fish Sliders'. We'll do those." Only enough for 48 I tell them. 

(totally keeping my mouth shut about the poor choice of marketing ... Fish "sliders"?? I connotate the word "slider" with "slimy" and "slick" and I don't REALLY think that's the association children should have with fish.) 

(However, the "naturally shaped square fish" had previously been fried ... so I guess that negates the slimy factor.) 

So we had, Chicken Nuggets for the "young ones", and Fish Sliders for the "toddlers" (who apparently are NOT 'young') (I'd hate to know what 30-somethings and 40-somethings are classified as), and green beans for all!!! 

I also served diced pears in-heavy-corn-syrup for some of the classes and sliced peaches in-heavy-corn-syrup for others. (Although apparently we don't need to serve "dessert" with the meal.) (Silly me, I thought the fruit with a main and veggie  was considered a 'balanced' meal, not providing "dessert")

Our starch was INSTANT, it-looks-like-glue or paste-with-butter-pellets-in-it, POTATOES. 

And I committed a crime (which was rectified) against the high-fructose corn syrup syndicate - because I didn't serve the chicken or fish with KETCHUP on the side.  

I am sure the Baby Jesus threw up a little in his mouth when he sat down to lunch. Then he burst into tears.

As my penance I am drinking cheep white wine tonight.

Winging It

Today I had a major breakfast failure. And that was just at the beginning of the day.
Apparently “Quick Grits” aren’t that quick. (who knew?)

Of course - I was only too happy to hide behind my "not a Southerner" label for this one.
I boiled water. I put dried grits in each serving bowl. I added the boiling water to the grits. I stirred. I was in a hurry. I didn't want to try and cook grits for 65 all at once (in a huge cauldron I was sure I wouldn't be able to lift off the stove). Instead I opted for the "let soak in the bowl" method.
Apparently they were "gritty".  *sigh*


So it was cold cereal for the masses for breakfast. Horrifying "Golden Grahams" to be exact. I am always reminded of "feed flakes" (see: feeding horses mash) when I see  them (or am forced to eat them).

For lunch today - we were going to have "Chicken and Rice" - once again - not my menu choice. Also? Just like the Mac-n-Cheese I made on Thursday? I made this without anyone giving me a recipe. Although at least today I'd had the luxury of looking at a few on-line recipes (and decided I'd just make my own up because they sounded disgusting).

In the freezer was a box labeled '4-10 lbs bags vacuum packed  boneless/skinless chicken breasts'. I assumed (because I am an idiot and will never learn to DOUBLE CHECK) they were individually flash frozen breasts. In 10 lbs bags. (How reasonable of me, eh?)

The “Vacuum packed chicken breasts”? MMmm-hmm. Not like the individually flash-frozen breasts I had imagined. No – that would be 4-10 lbs bags of ice chicken bricks – all frozen together into one mammoth cube o'frozen chicken. So I couldn't just defrost TWO bags that I needed – but had to defrost all 40 lbs of chicken (for 65 kids under the age of 5 - known to be "big eaters").

Have you tried to defrost a 40 lbs of chicken ice cube? Well - let me tell you. You can start running cold tap water on that sucker at 7:30. At 8:30 when you check it - nothing has thawed. At 9:30 you can (sort of) pry the four bags apart. At 11:00 am? You still have four solid chicken chunked ice cubes. Lunch to be served at noon.

What to do?

Manhandle the chicken (perhaps that's choke the chicken?) with a cleaver. Seriously. I just hacked it onto chunks. With no respect to where one (frozen) breast cleaved unto another. Whack, whack, whack.
Then I called the office and told them lunch was going to be 30 minutes late. (which I thought was pretty f'ing good condisering I only had one 10 lbs cube a quarter cut down at the time.) (I was trying to preserve my fingers. Funny - how attached I've become to them.)

They acted like I'd said lunch would be sometime past 10pm. (idiots)

After I whacked out the frozen chicken pancake slabs - I put them on a parchment covered sheet pan. I roasted them in the convection oven for 20 minutes, turned, and roasted them for another 20 minutes.
Prior to hacking the ice-cubes into pancake slabs - I'd make some rice (rice, chicken broth, water, salt butter) in the oven. But instead of cooking it for the full 25 minutes, I only cooked it for 15. Then I took it out - to await the chicken (in whatever century it decided to become "cooked chicken").
I also sautéed off some sweet onions I'd diced and carrots. In butter. (How could anything with real butter in it taste bad?)

And then there were the sweet potatoes. They were diced (but uncooked) from the Wednesday night dinner (107 people, thank you very much). I'd roasted them with olive oil, sugar, salt, cayenne pepper, black pepper, and cumin.

For the kids - I didn't think the cayenne would go over so well - so I just did brown sugar (instead of white), olive oil and cumin.

The rice - was very, very moist - 'cause it set for about an hour in the unabsorbed liquid after I took it out of the oven. Into it I dumped the sautéed carrots and onion - and chopped chicken. (That's chicken and rice, right? Oh shut up! You didn't REALLY think I'd use cream of mushroom soup or cream of chicken soup did you?? Think of the poor innocent children!)

And it was FABULOUS. And ONLY a half-hour late. (come on - who the hell else would have thought that quickly on their feet?)

ps: I was forced to use Velveeta in the "homemade" macaroni and cheese. I am expecting child protective service to show up any minute.

pps: (I boiled the elbow macaroni the night before - then just plunged it into boiling water the next day to warm it up.)


ppps: Then I dumped the drained macaroni (after reserving 2 quarts of pasta water) into hotel pans. I added salt, some of the pasta water (built in starch and "natural" thickener) - and the "orange food product that contains no dairy and glows in the dark like nuclear waste while eerily maintaining the texture of silly puddy" - then covered it up and returned it to the oven. I was hoping for ... Armageddon - but unfortunately - it just turned oozy. With stiff resolve, I risked life and limb to stir it. The good news is that if you add a little milk - the day-glo color slightly abates. 


ppps: No one died in the consumption of this product. (I am SHOCKED!)


pppps: (my heart has now shriveled FOUR SIZES SMALLER)

That's Chef Sticky to you!

I have a new temporary gig. I am cooking 65 breakfasts and lunches - and preparing 112 snacks each day.

For children.

You know I am in heaven (not!)

I stepped into this gig at 10:15 Tuesday morning. (I arrived home from California at 1:00 am TUESDAY MORNING)

I have been going 100 mph since. It's not just the breakfast/lunch/snack that has me moving at warped spped - there also was the dinner for 140 Wednesday night. With just me. To prep - cook - serve - and wash. (okay - that's an exaggeration - I had two volunteers help me Wednesday to get ready for the dinner Wed. night.) But all those lunches and breakfast meals? ME.

Today was my "easy day" - I only had the breakfast/lunch/snack duties - no dinner prep. I was there by 8:00 am and out by 5:30 pm. (Although I did end up setting up cleaning schedules, cook orientation outlines, food ordering and usage guidelines after 3:00 pm when I "finish" my (temporary) job). That is a "short day".

Part of the job - is also portioning out the meals - labeling them, portioning out the silverware/plates, and delivering them to the six classrooms in the morning and 9 rooms in the afternoon. Oh! And I also pick up the items. All this - AWAY FROM THE KITCHEN (where hopefully you have other food cooking for the other meal).

In my three short days (which thankfully will end a week from today) I have squirreled away numerous stories. Here's today's.

At 12:10 I delivered lunch – but couldn’t fit the 6-1 gal. milk containers on the cart with the spaghetti sauce, noodles, corn, peaches, and serving utensils for all six classrooms - so I had to make two trips. This annoyed me. A LOT.

 

As I’m making the delivery, I am busy thinking about kitchen clean up after lunch – cutting 7 bags of oranges for the afternoon snacks into eight segments per orange  – and what all I need to talk to the Children's Center Director about in our afternoon meeting.

Earlier - when I delivered breakfast, I note there are repairmen in the Social Hall - removing some floor tiles right in front of the restrooms. There is a pile of powdery substance where the removed tiles use to reside. I ask the workers if it's ok if I use the restroom. They say, "Yes". I enter and exit the restroom with no calamities befalling me.

Now - as I deliver lunch, I also have to go pee. I think I can put it off - but decide I better not.

I am going right past the same restroom, right off the kitchen. Now - I see the progress has moved to wet  epoxy on the floor spread in whirls and swirls.

I see the fan running – it is to help the epoxy dry to its most tacky  state.

I avoid the epoxy when I enter the restroom.

I use the restroom.

I am thinking about how I am going to be cooking someone else’s menu next week – who has never used this kitchen (and I am worried about what they are going to think up) and if my old body is going to collapse before the "real" cook shows up.

I walk out of the restroom – right into the epoxy!

It is VERY sticky.

At first, I think I’ll just walk enough in the filthy kitchen and there the epoxy will lose its sticky power.

As I’m standing back at the dishwasher, it becomes clear that the sticky is trying to stick me to the floor.

WHAT TO DO??

Oh! Peanut butter is what you use when you get gum in things! What a great idea.

Oh-oh – peanut free facility precludes use of peanut butter.

Cook’s clogs are “indestructible” (or so I hope) … so – I get some serving trays out of the cupboard. I put them on the floor. I take the clogs off my feet. I stand on the trays – so my feet don’t get yucky. I shove a pair of long handled tongs into the shoes so they won’t turn over in the dishwasher. I place the shoes and the tongs on a washing tray.

I run them through …

I forgot my shoes would be wet when they came out of the dishwasher .... so I use the serving trays like big skates to go down to the towel closet so I can dry out my shoes before putting them back on my feet.

I feel like an idiot. I pray that no one enters the kitchen.

I dry the shoes.

I look at the soles.

There is still gunk on them.

I am still standing on plastic serving trays in the dish-washing area.

I skate to the silverware area.

I grab a butter knife – I try scraping at the soles. I pray (some more) that no one comes into the kitchen.

I put my shoes back on.

They still make that squicking sticky noise when I walk. However, they don't stick QUITE so badly if I stand in one place for more than two minutes.

Hopefully the sticky power will leave before before I have to walk outside.

Otherwise – all the leaves of a North Carolina fall will be sticking to me as I leave.

Clark Guy - Sis Draper

The words to the song, "Sis Draper", by Clark Guy are fun

And I can totally identify with this line,

"She'll play all night if she feels like it

have some fruit punch if you spike it"

I really like the sound of this ... and YOU will too.

Because I SAY SO.

****

Today was a rough day. Got in the office early to get set up for the push of the two webinars today. We are continuing to have audio problems. We have a sound board – but when it’s plugged into the ‘puter it’s not giving us any “pickup” … or Cadillac’s or even making ANY SOUND AT ALL. And apparently - the job of a sound board is to increase (and level out) the sound.

And the regular (mono mike) isn’t consistently picking up sound (problem we’ve had all along) and each time you unplug/re-plug in the Y splitter – the computer looses the connection all together and the WHOLE DAMN thing has to be rebooted.

Then we figured out one side of the splitter (‘cause I have to close the loop so the audio from the movie is pushed) is borked.

With 30 minutes before show time – we sent someone off to Radio Shack to get a new splitter – a mono splitter. When he returned – it was with a STEREO splitter. *sigh*

Part of the problem - and the need for the sound board is because the mic is only picking up sound if it is RIGHT AT YOUR MOUTH - otherwise the mic's not picking up any unrecorded speech. Not if it's on your lapel, not near the left side of your face - or laying on the table - or propped up on the screen of the laptop. Oh - noooo. Your lips must be TOUCHING THE MIC. So the board is supposed to BOOST the sound wave and allow you to manage the GAIN. (In theory - which remains unproven - as it isn't working.)

But you know - I work with Engineers - and there is NO PROBLEM they cannot solve. (a-hem)

So now I have the mic DANGLING FROM MY GLASSES so it HANGS (over the nose bridge and) RIGHT IN FRONT OF MY MOUTH – and then we have to scooootch the jack in-out until it hit’s the “sweet spot”.

OF COURSE since I know NOTHING about sound – all I could do is stand on the sidelines while the “engineers” clicked and mumbled over my laptop as they tried to figure out the problem.. And then they had me drag out my old XP machine which has NONE OF THE DATA or SOFTWARE ON IT. ('because - you know. Maybe the fact the machine displays great sound waves some times and doesn't others is systematic of VISTA! (not)

Obviously this is a < sarcasm > GREAT idea at T -5 minutes to going live. < / sarcasm >

Anyway – finally held up my left foot, squeezed my right tit – swallowed the mic and the show was on.

******

Here are the lyrics:

"Kick your shoes off in the corner mama

Tuck the babies all up snug

Sis Draper's comin' over, we all gonna cut a rug

When you see that lantern swingin' yonder

Comin' up the Holler Road

Them dogs'll get to barkin'

Ought to tie em all up with a rope

***

You boys better get in tune

Sis Draper's gonna be here soon

Don't shoot no dice nor get too tight

If you're gonna pick with Sis tonight

She came down from the Boston mountains

There was lightnin' in the air

Honey on them fiddle strings

Magnolia in her hair

She's a diamond in the rough

If you can't see the shine that's tough

Play all night for the likes of us

Sis Draper's got the touch

***

She'll play all night if she feels like it

have some fruit punch if you spike it

Sis don't care who don't like it

See, ol' Sis has got a Hell of a bow arm on her

***

She stepped up and sawed one off

And uncle Cleve dropped his jaw

Said she's the best I ever saw

She must be from Arkansas

***

I think Grandpa used to date her

Grandma says she still hates her

All the fellas stand up straighter

In the presence of Sis Draper

***

Sis Draper is the devil's daughter

Plays the fiddle Daddy bought her

Plays it like her mama taught her

She's a travelin' Arkansawyer

***

Put her fiddle in a box

Said it's getting awful late

She's on her way to Little Rock

And Little Rock can't wait

***

So we all stood out in the yard

Hands all full of watermelon

Watcher her leave watched her go

Wishin' I was in that wagon

***

Sis Draper is the devil's daughter

Plays the fiddle Daddy bought her

Plays it like her mama taught her

She's a travelin' Arkansawyer"

Keith Jarrett - Summertime

Summertime, And the livin' is easy Fish are jumpin' And the cotton is high

Keith has done a lot in his lifetime. Most of it seems to be well received.

Yesterday was the first presentation of our webinars. To say we were nervous about the reception from our customers would be an understatement. We didn’t know if they’d be receptive to method of information delivery or not. The invitation and instructions we sent to them instructed them to conduct a test before hand to make sure sound and video components on their computers were working. Then we let them know they could sign into the session 30 minutes before the start of the presentation.

Of course, my biggest fear was I’d been spending all this time, effort, and angst in vein – for no reason. At 30 minutes ‘till we had 15 people signed in. At 45 minutes to we had 68 people. The GM – greatly amazed at the response – started saying out loud … “no more people! No more!” At five minutes to show time, we’d reached our 100 person viewing limit. Quick calls were made to our other offices – and employees were instructed to sign out of the session. During the sessions duration, there were about 96 people viewing the webinar. Statistics show no one left the session early. We had a few issues with sound – which we’ll be able to correct on the remaining five topics that haven’t been produced yet. We’ll just have to make due with the audio on the six already in the can.

The second session - although it had a smaller viewing audience (different product, smaller customer base) – had percentage wise, just as good of an attendance rate and positive response.

I still don’t think they were the best – but of course, they were the very first two I put together – and there’s a big learning curve. However … these comments – unsolicited by the viewers – prove once again that I don’t always evaluate myself in the best possible light.

“You speak so well tho... you really did sound good on it.”

“Just a note to say that I thought the webinar was great. This seems to be a great way to communicate in the future.”

“Good job with the webinar – as a new user, the information is helpful and useful….particularly the hint about entering the first bale from each gin by hand and issuing the receipt to make there are no errors. This is a good training tool and I look forward to future sessions”

So – onward and forward. Today I’m editing the session so it can be downloaded or played from our website; plus putting up some additional documentation.

Jason almost has the outside motion detector light up – and the new screen door has two coats of primer on it. Now if we can just get that guest bedroom ceiling done before he leaves next Thursday morning. I’d really wanted to take him to this very awesome wine shop for a wine tasting … but I’m not sure if that’s in the cards or not. I guess it depends on how much he can remove from the guest room without my help and get started in there today.

I’d also wanted to take him down to Ayden to sample some Q. If you watch this video, you’ll see why. But a two-hundred round mile trip also seems to be pushing it a bit much. Some cotton friends are in town – and they’ve asked to meet at the Cheesecake Factory. Since that is DEFINITELY on the list – I guess that’s what we’re doing Saturday night.

Yippy – it’s Friday. Hope your day is short and your weekend is long.