Hi! My name’s Marynia (but everyone calls me Wil) and I’m in charge of catering for “How Socrates Bought the Farm.” This means that I have to organize two breakfasts and two dinners and snacks for the 20 members of cast and crew working on set. Yesterday I spent just over $220 on groceries at two different stores but that didn’t stop me from needing to make a quick dash back to Thrifty’s on my way to set this morning for a few forgotten items. I woke up this morning at 7:30am and started mixing the pancake batter for the 11am breakfast. I made apple, banana, and chocolate chip pancakes! So from 11am to just after noon I was pouring and flipping and I could barely keep up. As soon as breakfast was done and dishes were washed I got straight to cutting up the fruits and veggies and laying out the snack food to tide people over until the 6pm dinner. Then I hopped in my friend Christina’s 4Runner and zooped on down to Cook Street Village to start work on the tacos I’ll be serving at 6pm this evening and tomorrow’s dinner (chilli). It’s been quite the mad scramble but I’ve finally gotten a second to sit down and so here I am typing away my adventures as an inexperienced caterer. : )
But I’ve already learned a few things today that will apply nicely to tomorrow.
1) Make breakfast in advance so that you can sit down and join your buddies while they feast, otherwise you land up slaving in the kitchen trying desperately to keep up with your friends’ hungry tummies and you can’t partake in any of the morning banter.
2) Before using any pots and pants, double check if any actually have sensible heat resistant handles, because otherwise you might assume they do and when you go to pick up that pot your professor lent you, your fingers will melt to it. 😀
3) Wear comfy shoes because you will be on your feet all day.
4) Don’t turn your back on anything for even a second. IT WILL BURN.
5) Most importantly, budget extra time for everything! Cooking for twenty takes a long time.
6) And this one’s important! Be prepared to be adored, honoured, thanked, hugged, massaged, and generally appreciated by all. Even more so if you’re providing food to a bunch of poor students and even poorer artists.
I gotta run! Tacos are up in under 2 hours and I have quite a bit to do before serving up the feast.
~ Chef Wil