Last weekend, I had the pleasure of being a "celebrity chef." How you may ask am I already a celebrity chef when I just graduated from culinary school? The answer: Go back home. Or at least what used to be home. Home is loosely defined right now but that is for another blog. I went back to Auburn to cook for a benefit dinner to raise awareness and money for some close friends of mine who are going to Malawi, Africa on a Mission Trip.
It was the most relaxing trip I had taken back to Auburn since this was the first time I was no longer in school. I had no thoughts of homework due or next quarter anxiety to worry about. My sole purpose was to cook a meal for around a 100 people. I had been practicing for this for the past 5 weeks. My Nashville friends were usually more than willing to be test subjects.
But here is the crazy thing...cooking for 8-12 people is TOTALLY different than 100 people. I knew this...I logically knew this but for some reason. I lulled myself into stupidity on Friday night and did not do much prep. And I payed for it the next day.
Saturday I was awakened to the sound of severe weather sirens. That is right...tornadoes were spotted in Lee County. Now I have learned over my years of living in said Lee County, that the tornado could go through just a small corner of the country and they have to sound the sirens. So I went back to sleep for a little bit till I told myself to get up and face the day.
I started driving and it was raining hard but not too hard. I had the radio on to listen to the weather should anything important happen. But I was not that worried. This may sound egotistical of me but I thought...I have spent the past 5 weeks planning for this meal and just spent around $500 dollars on food...God taking me home (there is that word again) right now would just be plain wrong. So I continued to drive even when the rain was coming down in sheets and any sensible person would have pulled over or shown some more brains and not even be out in the weather. By the time I arrived at the church building the rain had mostly stopped. Mom had called to check on me and there were a group of college age guys standing under the carport looking at me like I was stupid. The Auburn Christian Student Center had planned their Guys/Girls retreat that weekend. The guys were going camping but with the weather they were forced to the teen center/church building for the night.
So I arrived in the kitchen and immediately felt the pressure. I had SO much to do but I plugged in my iphone and started jamming to the music.
Around noon, I began the internal panic. No one could see it. But it was there and was growing. Dinner was at 6:30 and I was way behind. Around that time reinforcements come. My parents came and started helping me and then a little bit later a hero in many ways came into the kitchen. Brandon is a friend of mine. We are closer friends now because he saved me. He is a police detective for the Opelika Police Force...so he protects my parents town and loves to cook. My kind of friend. So we start marking things off the lists little by little. The one thing that was still looming larger watermelon to an ant was the dessert. I still had to make the batter.
Around 5pm the panic was clearly showing. I had lost my cool, calm and collected and was scattered brain....until George came to visit. George is not a person. George and Fred are two names I choose to name something that is scary or unknown. Kinda like in Over the Hedge when they say naming something makes it less scary. They chose Steve...I choose George or Fred. For example...Fred was an ant that lived in my car that scared Joy Commander. She was perfectly fine once she knew it's name. George is also a white squirrel that lived the arboretum near where I used to live- not scary just unknown......I digress.....George came this particular day in the form of a fire. A small kitchen fire, but enough for me to feel my insides begin to travel up the wrong way and have a desire to show themselves. But I attempted to remain calm while a burner was on fire from a grease fire caused by butter getting too hot. I knew enough from school not to panic extremely...it is just fire...I have seen bigger flames...I have caused bigger flames. So I grabbed a bowl and covered it to contain it till I found some baking soda. Note to self...next time always have some baking soda on hand. Now while I was looking for baking soda...my mom was calmly freaking out. She grabbed the fire extinguisher and was about to blow out this fire. I knew it was not time for that...I also knew that the chemical it put out would contaminate all my food. AIN'T GONNA HAPPEN. So, I firmly told her no and began to look for baking soda...again....Once I realized there was no baking soda to be found....I slowly lifted the bowl and the flame had died down enough to blow it out. Stress had now reached my shoulders and I felt all the nightmares of my culinary practicals come back to haunt me.
Well I had not the time to waddle in the fire...but move forward and begin preparing to plate the salad. A de-constructed Caesar Salad. The most simple of the dishes I was preparing...I did this on purpose so I would not stress and mess up early in the meal. By this time I had 2 kitchen helpers who were solely there to help plate and Brandon and my mom were watching the rest of the food and melting chocolate for my dessert. I had already burnt the crunch factor for my dessert so that was my first casualty but I had plating to worry about.
Salad went out and it was on the next course. Artichoke and Sun Dried Tomato Stuffed Chicken with Roasted Potatoes and Roasted Fresh Veggies. In hind sight, I should have steamed the veggies or had a different starch because my oven capacity was not managed correctly. So while we were plating the entrees...i had only made 24 of the 100 desserts (chocolate Lava Cake) I needed to make. I knew I was in trouble but had no way other than the force my way to the finish line. As my mom put it....Honey, you are cooking for family...it will be ok. True but I did feel like I had something to prove.
So I had just finished the third batch of 6 desserts when the crowds were getting restless and demanding my presence. So I donned my chef's jacket and went out and talked to the crowd. The entire time I wanted back in the that kitchen to finish what I had started but oh well. So I thanked everyone for supporting this mission effort and answered a few questions about the menu and apologized for the lateness of the dessert. Went back into the kitchen and knocked the rest of the desserts out.
All in all it was a pretty good first experience with a plated dinner. I still prefer plated over buffet any day of the week because there is more portion control. The fundraising total, which including a silent auction, was around $2000. I must say I was proud of myself for helping raise that much money for my friends.
Next time I will try to remember to get some pics of my food before it goes out.
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