And that is how I became a caterer for a weekend.

Alright so for those of you who might not know: my Hubby runs the maintenance side of a summer camp. Awesome right? Right. Well a few months ago his partner (who runs the booking/scheduling side) left to take over another job and this left Hubby working both positions which is usually something he can handle but for this group he couldn't use the caterer that the camp usually uses because the group was only 23 people ( the normal guy won't cook for any group less than 25). This is where that part of our marriage that the term "partnership" got thrown around and long story short I ended up cooking for them ( totally by myself) while my amazing, awesome, fantabulistic sister watched Munchkin all weekend long (by herself) for the first time. Needless to say this past weekend was a very humbling one for everyone involved.

Let me just share a few facts:
1. The kitchen utilities have been in service longer than my mother has been alive.
2. I have not once turned on a stove in that kitchen prior to Friday morning (AKA: first breakfast for the group)
3. I have never cooked for a group of people larger than seven.

This is basically how things played out:


  1. ( Thursday Night)
Hey....you've got this. You're a great cook! You've cooked for lots of people, they love your food. You'll be fine, it's only three days. You've got this tiger!







2. (Friday Morning)
UGH. Why am I up at 4 a.m.? Who eats breakfast at 6:15?!? Ok, pull it together, let's do this.....set up the waffle griddles, make the mix, this is easy. No problem. Maybe I really can do this.



 

3. ( Still Breakfast)
OH MY GOD! Why are the griddles not hot?!? What happened? I swear I turned them on, they were on and now they're not. What is going on? Oh good lord I tripped a breaker!!! The coffee maker, the warmer, the cooler and both griddles are off! Why? Why did I volunteer for this?! Where is the breaker? Where is another outlet?!?!



And I really could have used someone like Wanda Sykes to just be like:

 

 

   4. (After fixing the breaker and moving griddles) OK.OK. You've gotten the worst out of the way, it's easy peasy from here baby. No worries, just keep making waffles and let's start on that bacon. 

5. ( Halfway through making breakfast)
What demon bacon is this!!? It's burning in seconds and tearing apart! Why?!? I hate you Smithfield. I hate you so much. PLEASE just cook normally and stop splitting and just be normal!What evil pig did you come from? We're halfway through this and I will not be under-minded by bacon!






6. ( Thirty minutes until breakfast)
Wait...I need more waffle mix. Uh-oh. I'm out. Like....out.out. Like there is no more mix and that means I cannot make any more waffles and OH MY GOD why did I even try this?? How did I run out!!?!? Oh no..how many is that total??  I give up, I give up. Mark my words...I GIVE UP!








7. (Twenty minutes until breakfast)
* Hubby walks in while I am frantically counting waffles and tells me everything is fine and to calm down *











8. We hastily figure out that everyone can have one waffle and most will be able to have seconds. Get drinks,fruit, cereals, and sides out. Group starts to line up and I put on my best smile making the plates and passing them out.







9. ( After Breakfast is served)
Thank the LORD! HALLELUJAH! I made it!! One breakfast down!





That is how it went word for word, emotion for emotion. It honestly got a lot better as the weekend progressed and it helped that this group was the most fantastic, wonderful group I could have asked for. They were super nice and one wonderful lady and her son brought me flowers because she has cooked for groups and knows how stressful it can be. Towards the end I got the art of timing down a little more and things got a little easier plus I did have help on the last breakfast service, and Hubby helped for dinners. All in all it was certainly a learning experience. I have a whole new appreciation for caterers I can promise you that.