Monday, December 17, 2012

Today was the BOND Christmas lunch. We had snow last night so it looked quite festive both inside and out.

There was a lot of work to do but we had three extra volunteers, as well as Maryanne and myself. A couple of the ladies have helped out in past years and we all work very well together. It was nice to spend time with Maryanne as we work alternate weeks and don’t see much of each other. The lunch is held at the United Church and they have a huge commercial kitchen – two stoves with ovens, lots of counter space, three sinks and a commercial-grade dishwasher.

We set up 14 tables, added festive tablecloths and then set each place with napkins and cutlery. Connie said she would like to have a photo of the room in its various stages – empty, set up but no one seated yet, lunch in progress, the mess after lunch, and then back to empty at the end of the day! The same series of photos in the kitchen would be interesting too.

We had 40 pounds of potatoes, two turkeys, a ham, a tofu turkey, stuffing and gravy. We served kernel corn and mixed peas and carrots; there were veggie trays on all the tables, as well as buns, pickles and cranberry sauce. We made a punch and also had coffee and tea. There were Nanaimo Bars, brownies, carrot cake and Christmas cookies for dessert, as well as oranges.

We served our guests rather than going with our usual buffet style – we think it is nice to wait on the ladies once a year. Everyone who has attended the program during the year, as well as their partners and all their children, are invited. Santa came to visit and his arrival was the cause of excitement in some and fear in others. All the kids received a gift (sisters and brothers too) and there were enough donated door prizes that all the adults received something as well. We had a photographer taking photos of everyone with Santa before he headed out. Everyone went home with at least one bag of leftovers.

In case you’re wondering, the tofu turkey wasn’t bad. The texture was a bit like a ham (baloney came to mind but then I’d just heard a radio show talking about Newfoundland’s love of the product so that may have influenced me). While we were cleaning up the cooks all decided that it was pretty good, but then we all admitted we had eaten it with a bit of “real” stuffing and gravy!

I am exhausted tonight and it will definitely be an early-to-bed night for me.