Follow up on firemen dinner

T

traca

Well-known member
Okay, first off, let me say thanks to everyone who submitted recipes for the dessert course in a glass. Unfortunately, World Merchants dropped the ball and I never got the shipment (they got the dates mixed up.)

The vegetarian dropped out so I reworked the menu.

Then, when we arrived at the station, apparently headquarters didn't communicate the fact that we were coming. The captain was none too pleased to come back from a run and find us there. Let's just say, it was a rocky start.

Next, we went to set up the table & chairs for 12, and they suddenly end up missing. No one knows where they are. We grab the table from the kitchen and my friend Mindy races home to get a folding table & chairs. We made it happen, just barely.

Next, THREE minutes before dinner, the crew on duty gets sent out on a call. We hold dinner until they come back...about an hour later.

Even better surprise? As a safety precaution, when the crew gets sent out on a call, the stove automatically shuts off until they come back. (FUN!)

Fortunately, my friend Mindy is an event planner for a living. Helping me in the kitchen was a friend who owned a catering business for 12 years. We just laughed and rolled with it.

Oh, and I made two kinds of ice cream (pumpkin & bourbon). Midway through churning the pumpkin, I tried the cake. Cooking on a convection oven for the first time, I overbaked it slightly. So we decided to use the pumpkin ice cream base as a creme anglaise. Between that and the bourbon ice cream, it added just enough moisture.

Whew! It was quite the adventure, for sure! Pictures & recipe links are in the post.

http://tinyurl.com/38lkzuv

 
Bravo! Nicely done, Traca. With time you'll get better and better

at juggling those last minute glitches and they'll barely phase you. You learn to be flexible, go with the flow, able to pull Plan B out of your back pocket (and sometimes Plan C and Plan D), and keep on smiling. smileys/wink.gif

Love all the photos!

 
LOL! Funny, I wasn't very stressed. This has been a week from hell and by the time all that happened

I was like, "Okay. No problem. What's next?" The universe was throwing punches all week and I just rolled with it. (My BF was diagnosed with stomach cancer on Friday, went in for surgery on Sunday--same day as my event, etc. etc. etc.)

 
I bet they'd love for you to cook for them again! Fantastic dessert, Traca. I'm praying for your

boyfriend. What were his symptoms before he found out it was cancer?

 
Wow, I'd have come undone at the automatic shut-off of the ovens. You're amazing.

How upsetting about your boyfriend! I'll hold you both in my thoughts

 
Well played, Traca! My DH is a volunteer firefighter here.

I'll have to tell him about your dinner. I had no idea about the stoves...

So sorry to hear about your boyfriend. You both are in my thoughts. Sending healing karma your way...

 
Amanda, not sure if all the firehouses are like that. This one is state of the art LEED-certified.

Apparently firemen taking off on a call has caused a number of fires in their own buildings. This new house comes with a safety precaution.

 
Joe, even better? I forgot the enviro lighting doesn't come on until a certain level of darkness.

The censor is OUTSIDE so even if we pulled all the shades, there was no way to get the maximum lighting until after the sun went down. It was difficult to see chopping, etc. We were tempted to ask for headlamps!

 
Thanks for the kind words re: BF. He's doing better post-surgery. My dad's next with colon cancer

surgery on 12/3. (What's that they say...when it rains, it pours?) The determined my dad's cancer is "invasive" but scheduled him 2 months out. By the time surgery rolled around, he had a bad cold & they postponned it. Now, 4 months after the original diagnosis, he goes in the first week in December.

xoxo-
T

 
Marsha, his symptoms

were loose and black/brackish stool. It went on for a couple weeks.

His son had a year-long disorder and passed on 10/31. So the cramping and upset stomach we attributed to grief and nerves. It's hard to say where they symptoms from grief ended and the stomach cancer began. To me, they were all rolled into one.

Over the past few months he lost 20+ pounds but again, was that grief or the cancer? We really don't know. He had terrible back pain during this time and while his son had a battery of daily doctor appts every day, I tried to get him to to go to the doctor too. No luck.

I'm just glad he finally went to the doctor and was able to get in for surgery right away.

 
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