Charity Events - Read the Paperwork.
This last Saturday I participated a fund raiser for the High Museum in Atlanta. 60-70 chefs (I'm guessing) from Atlanta's restaurant scene prepare foods at different tables for the reception which precedes a Wine Auction. The more of these events you do, the easier they become, but I suffered from some very piss poor planning, I think the worst ever. Luckily, it came out very well.
I remember to order a flower arrangement for the table, but don't get around to doing so until Thursday night. We schedule pickup for 9:30 Saturday morning. I'm supposed to be on sight by 10:00am for set up. We get the food in Friday and before I leave for the evening I pack up some boxes with everything I would need. I keep a list on my computer.....The list includes sterno, tongs, napkins, business cards, copper pieces for display, tablecloths, signage, knives, gloves, sanitizer, etc. I have a separate list for the items I keep at home. My chef de cuisine packs the food.
The boxes are packed in the office and the food in the walk-in cooler. I go home, turning down an offer to go out with a friend. I need to go to bed early.
This is when things get a little rough.
I had told some waiters to put our porch heaters in my car since their use was over for the season, (yeah, right!) and I had to take them to be serviced. But I need my back seat for my assistant and daughter, Mona, and the flowers. I get home at 9:30 and have to drag the heaters out of the car, cursing and whining because they are very heavy and awkward. (My husband is still out of town.) I pull some display and serving pieces, wrap them in plastic and pack them in my backseat. I look in my trunk and see all the things I had bagged up to donate to the church thrift shop two weeks ago, but had forgotten to drop off. My trunk was PACKED. I have to empty my trunk. All done; I will get the cooler and cook top from the basement in the morning.
2:00 am - Do I have the butane cartridges for the cook top? Didn't I give them all back to Deedee? I must have some in the basement? If not I will have to go out to Atlanta Fixture when they open in the morning. I call Atlanta Fixture at 2:30 am to see what time they open. 9:00 AM. It will work.
6:00 am - I can't sleep, worrying about the butane. Get up, shower, dress, iron my chef coat and trudge down to the basement. No butane. I pack everything else. I wait until 8:30 to call Deedee to see if she has them. She says she gave them to me, I promise to look again. I look again, but no Butane so I'm out the door to Atlanta Fixture. (I later fib to Deedee saying I found them. I didn't want her to know what a flake I have become).
8:55 - Atlanta Fixture people open up 5 minutes early for me. I pick up the butane, ask about some to go containers, happen by some new cleaning buckets and pick them up. Out the door at 9:10.
9:20 - Arrive at friends house to pick up Mona who had spent the night there.
9:30 - Pick up flowers, which are still being tweaked.
9:40 - Arrive at the restaurant to pick up a line cook "S" from the kitchen who will be assisting me, pack up the TRUNK. As we are packing up, I start discussing the menu and how we are going to do it with "S". "S" reads the paperwork I had been sent by the planning committee three months earlier and tells me there is no cooking allowed inside the tent. I swear last year chefs cooked inside the tent. That is a problem for me because I am serving scallops which most definitely have to be cooked. OK, we will cook outside the tent. "S" is looking at me funny.
10:05 - Arrive at the "area" where I thought the wine tent would be. I see some smaller tents and think that they have changed the arrangement for the auction. I drop off "S" and Mona with some stuff and tell them to start looking for our table.
10:09 - A policeman asks me what I'm doing and then informs me I am in the wrong place. I wait for "S" and my daughter to come back, load the stuff again and drive around to the back, find the tent and the drop off spot. Start hauling things over our table.
10:25 - At this time I have no idea what I am going to cook on, what is going to go in what display piece.
I set up a cooking station. It consists of 3 cardboard boxes turned upside down with a butane stove on top. It also consists of another cardboard box turned upside down with a cutting board on which "S" will put a pan for the cooked scallops. On another crate is a bucket of water (Evian) in a cleaning bucket with sanitizer. We have the ice chest out there with the scallops. Believe it or not, it's pretty much up to code. "S" is looking at me funny.
10:35 - I go searching for water for the chafing dish and for our access passes. I go in the wrong direction. I am instructed to use Evian for the chafing dish. I tell the volunteer I need some forks and plates. Go back and set up chafing dish.
10:40 - "S" starts cooking scallops. I run out to my car to move it from the loading dock to the parking lot. I tried the "my husband is a retired Atlanta cop, can I just leave my car here?" It didn't work. The cop told me to say hello to my husband but to move my car. My daughter, Mona, is putting down the tablecloths and putting the garnishes and sauces into the pots.
10:45 - I am at my car, looking at the one copper pot left in the back seat. Do I take it? It is very old and valuable and it might get lost at the event. I lock it in my trunk.
10:50 - I get back to the table, find someone putting out forks and realize I need the copper pot in my trunk. Run outside with Mona and show her where the car is. Then send her running to get it.
10:55 - Finish table. "S" has finished first batch of scallops and they look beautiful. Put them in the chafer. Mona gets back with the pot for the forks.
11:00 - Event begins. Everyone loves the Scallops. They are delicious.
