Monday, September 16, 2013

I think there may be advantages to doing the BOND lunch on a regular basis. I’ve had a couple of weeks off and it felt like a really long day today when I was back on the job.

I made pita pizzas and, although they are a big hit, they aren’t the easiest of meals to prepare. There was lots of chopping (onions, peppers, mushrooms, pineapples), slicing (pepperoni, ham) and grating (two different kinds of cheese).

Connie and I attempted to get an assembly line going but there is so little space in the kitchen that we were in each other’s way most of the time. I was only able to fit four pitas in the oven at one time so it was a continual process. After the first batch came out of the oven Connie burnt herself by trying to move a hot baking sheet so I told her to soak her hand and I would manage. It was almost after 1:30 before the last batch came out of the oven. The good news is that they were being eaten almost as quickly as they arrived on the table.  I think next time we have pita pizzas I will try covering the oven rack with foil and putting the pizzas on top. If it worked it would allow me to get a lot more served at the same time.

Just as I was about ready to sit down to eat I realized we were running out of plates. Although it wasn’t mentioned in my Food Safe course, Connie implemented a one plate one helping rule; if the ladies take a second helping they get a clean plate. I quickly washed up a few plates so we had enough to last the meal. I sat down to eat just moments before the guest speaker arrived.

We had a good turnout today in spite of the weather. We are back to mostly babies again. Of the eleven women around the table, eight of them have little ones. I didn’t have time to stop and admire many of the new babies though.

The kitchen clean up wasn’t quick either. The dishwasher was full so there were a few extra plates to wash, along with all our serving dishes. If the dishes belong to the BOND program we wash them by hand so they can be put back in our cupboard. There were four cookie sheets that needed to be cleaned up as well.

I stopped by the Red Cross this morning; I sent in my new number requests and labelled a few of the returned items. I popped back this afternoon but I didn’t have any new numbers; I’m beginning to think the person in Courtenay doesn’t work on Monday. I made a quick stop at WalMart on the way home to pick up a few things we need for our Guild project tomorrow at the bee.

After a cup of coffee and a bit of a rest I’m back to work. I have a few sheets to print off for the Red Cross binder and then I have a parcel to get ready for the mail.