I feel truly humbled that you, my readers, have continued to be so faith over the last few weeks. Even though I was unable to steal away any time to write to you, you visited my blog anyway. You are amazing!
This morning, I am being naughty to write instead of continuing my packing. (The project house is finally to the point where my belongings can be moved into it. My family is helping me move them tomorrow.)
Last Sunday, my daughter Anne graduated high school. I am so proud of her. She worked hard and earned an honors diploma. To celebrate her achievement, she asked if she could have a party. Without even bothering to ask my parents, in whose home we live, I said yes. After all, my family would be there -- all 15 of us (including my son from across the Country). There was no reason Anne should not invite a few friends. So I set a barbecue menu and immediately began cooking brisket in advance.
Anne waited and waited to send out any invitations. Then, a week before graduation, we were at the grocery store where one of her friends works. I asked if he was someone she wanted to invite to the partya then told her to go ask him right then and there. She did as instructed, he said yes and we walked away. After we were out of ear-shot, I then told her she had better quickly invite her boyfriend so he wouldn't have hurt feelings. She groaned and, when we got home, proceeded to "accidentally" invite ALL of her Facebook friends to the party -- 88 people! Needless to say, we had a little talk about the invite list and Anne wound up un-inviting a bunch of her guestlist. She also set an RSVP deadline so that I would know how many people to expect in time to cook for everyone.
It took two days to slow-cook and shred 12 pounds of beef (and beef is NOT cheap!), but I had to wait until the day before the party to prepare the potato salad and cole slaw. Having never thrown a party of the size I was expecting (a total of 40 people), I had NO idea how much to cook. So I referred to an expert -- my friend, the chef who owns her own catering business. She told me to cook three bags of potatoes (between 9 lbs and 12 lbs) and two large head of cabbage. I got the ingredients.
The day before the party, I needed to use the kitchen ALL day. Everyone knew it. First thing in the morning, as soon as I awoke, I showered and dressed and headed to the kitchen... to discover my mother washing, preparing and blanching raw sweet peas. I could not even start the potatoes -- not cleaning them or boiling them or anything, until about mid-morning (by which time I was in the middle of ironing Anne's gown). No problem. I was sure I could handle it -- even with the movie I had promised to watch with my kids.
Then my son wanted to take me out for lunch. Okay, I figured we would just grab something at McDonald's or someplace fast on the way to the grocery store down the hill. No. He wanted sit-down food. We wound up driving about 20 minutes to dine at a sit-down restaurant. By this time, I was telling the kids I would need a little help when we got home. They agreed to help.
Do you see where this is going yet? Well, my son (whose back is injured) did take Anne to WalMart to buy a couple of sports coolers. That was nice. He even paid for them! Which was even nicer. He also did a few grocery runs for me, which really saved me time.
Back at the house after our lunch excursion (around 2:30 pm), I washed the potatoes. Then I boiled half of them in a big pot. I skinned them and repeated the process with the other half of the potatoes. During that process, I asked Anne to go into the basement and find my food processor for the cole slaw. (My mom's is broken or I would have used hers.) I had two potatoes remaining to be skinned when I finally sat down to watch that movie with my kids and eat dinner. My son cooked. While he was cooking, I went into the basement and found my food processor. I had to unstack and open, then re-stack, about 10 boxes to finally find the thing. Oh, and it was covered in stuff you don't even want to know about because the box's top was all broken. Good news is that I found it.
When the movie was over, I immediately got up and went back to the kitchen. I had two potatoes to peel, then dice all the potatoes and make the dressing. Who should follow right behind me into the kitchen? My mom. Well, her griddle was out because that is what my son used to cook bacon for part of our dinner. (By all means, make him put a clunky old griddle on the countertop I need to use!) I told her not worry about it. The griddle was hot and I would get to it in a few minutes when it was cooler. I said it twice. She ignored me both times and began cleaning it up. By this time, I was making the potato salad dressing: a whole bottle of Italian dressing, the rest of my chicken broth, a couple teaspoons vinegar, and I was just measuring the mayonaise when SMASH! The thing she was putting away into an overhead cabinet fell and crashed into the glass jar she had poured bacon grease. Glass went flying EVERYWHERE -- right by the food I was cooking.
It was already late at night. I had NO TIME to buy and cook another 9 pounds of potatoes, peel and dice them. There was a lot of stuff between them and the glass, so my son helped me look to see if there was any evidence glass had gotten into the potatoes. If we had found even one shard, I would have to had thrown out the whole batch. We visually scoured the potatoes with the light from a penlight. Nothing showed, so I HOPED no glass shards got into them. I also diced them after the accident and saw/felt no indications of glass. My potato salad dressing, though, I tossed. (I got a drop of grease on my hand when it was flying everywhere, so I didn't want to take a chance with the dressing.)
It was midnight by the time I finished dicing potatoes, but the grocery was closed and I needed more mayo, chicken broth and Italian dressing to make the dressing. I was so upset that I stayed up typing an email to my friend the chef to let her know everything that happened. I closed up my laptop and went to sleep around 1:30 am.
Four hours later (5:30 am), my door opened. It was my mother. She asked what I needed to replace for my potato salad dressing so she could run to the grocery for it. I mumbled something incoherent in her direction. She made me get up to answer.
I continued cooking. Around 11:00 am, I was finally finished. Anne had two hours to eat and get to school, but there was still kitchen clean-up to do and I had not even taken my shower yet! So I ran up to shower and dress despite the condition of the kitchen. I was ready just in time to drive Anne to school (which means she got a piece of smoked sausage and a granola bar for lunch). But when I came downstairs into the kitchen, the dishes were already clean. My dad had washed them for me.
After graduation, a total of about 30 people (not 40) showed up to the party. We had more than plenty of food and sent some home with adult guests. The extra potato salad and cole slaw was given to my chef friend. (She LOVES potato salad.) And my daughter had a well-deserved and wonderful time with a gathering of her friends.
This morning, I am being naughty to write instead of continuing my packing. (The project house is finally to the point where my belongings can be moved into it. My family is helping me move them tomorrow.)
Last Sunday, my daughter Anne graduated high school. I am so proud of her. She worked hard and earned an honors diploma. To celebrate her achievement, she asked if she could have a party. Without even bothering to ask my parents, in whose home we live, I said yes. After all, my family would be there -- all 15 of us (including my son from across the Country). There was no reason Anne should not invite a few friends. So I set a barbecue menu and immediately began cooking brisket in advance.
Anne waited and waited to send out any invitations. Then, a week before graduation, we were at the grocery store where one of her friends works. I asked if he was someone she wanted to invite to the partya then told her to go ask him right then and there. She did as instructed, he said yes and we walked away. After we were out of ear-shot, I then told her she had better quickly invite her boyfriend so he wouldn't have hurt feelings. She groaned and, when we got home, proceeded to "accidentally" invite ALL of her Facebook friends to the party -- 88 people! Needless to say, we had a little talk about the invite list and Anne wound up un-inviting a bunch of her guestlist. She also set an RSVP deadline so that I would know how many people to expect in time to cook for everyone.
It took two days to slow-cook and shred 12 pounds of beef (and beef is NOT cheap!), but I had to wait until the day before the party to prepare the potato salad and cole slaw. Having never thrown a party of the size I was expecting (a total of 40 people), I had NO idea how much to cook. So I referred to an expert -- my friend, the chef who owns her own catering business. She told me to cook three bags of potatoes (between 9 lbs and 12 lbs) and two large head of cabbage. I got the ingredients.
The day before the party, I needed to use the kitchen ALL day. Everyone knew it. First thing in the morning, as soon as I awoke, I showered and dressed and headed to the kitchen... to discover my mother washing, preparing and blanching raw sweet peas. I could not even start the potatoes -- not cleaning them or boiling them or anything, until about mid-morning (by which time I was in the middle of ironing Anne's gown). No problem. I was sure I could handle it -- even with the movie I had promised to watch with my kids.
Then my son wanted to take me out for lunch. Okay, I figured we would just grab something at McDonald's or someplace fast on the way to the grocery store down the hill. No. He wanted sit-down food. We wound up driving about 20 minutes to dine at a sit-down restaurant. By this time, I was telling the kids I would need a little help when we got home. They agreed to help.
Do you see where this is going yet? Well, my son (whose back is injured) did take Anne to WalMart to buy a couple of sports coolers. That was nice. He even paid for them! Which was even nicer. He also did a few grocery runs for me, which really saved me time.
Back at the house after our lunch excursion (around 2:30 pm), I washed the potatoes. Then I boiled half of them in a big pot. I skinned them and repeated the process with the other half of the potatoes. During that process, I asked Anne to go into the basement and find my food processor for the cole slaw. (My mom's is broken or I would have used hers.) I had two potatoes remaining to be skinned when I finally sat down to watch that movie with my kids and eat dinner. My son cooked. While he was cooking, I went into the basement and found my food processor. I had to unstack and open, then re-stack, about 10 boxes to finally find the thing. Oh, and it was covered in stuff you don't even want to know about because the box's top was all broken. Good news is that I found it.
When the movie was over, I immediately got up and went back to the kitchen. I had two potatoes to peel, then dice all the potatoes and make the dressing. Who should follow right behind me into the kitchen? My mom. Well, her griddle was out because that is what my son used to cook bacon for part of our dinner. (By all means, make him put a clunky old griddle on the countertop I need to use!) I told her not worry about it. The griddle was hot and I would get to it in a few minutes when it was cooler. I said it twice. She ignored me both times and began cleaning it up. By this time, I was making the potato salad dressing: a whole bottle of Italian dressing, the rest of my chicken broth, a couple teaspoons vinegar, and I was just measuring the mayonaise when SMASH! The thing she was putting away into an overhead cabinet fell and crashed into the glass jar she had poured bacon grease. Glass went flying EVERYWHERE -- right by the food I was cooking.
It was already late at night. I had NO TIME to buy and cook another 9 pounds of potatoes, peel and dice them. There was a lot of stuff between them and the glass, so my son helped me look to see if there was any evidence glass had gotten into the potatoes. If we had found even one shard, I would have to had thrown out the whole batch. We visually scoured the potatoes with the light from a penlight. Nothing showed, so I HOPED no glass shards got into them. I also diced them after the accident and saw/felt no indications of glass. My potato salad dressing, though, I tossed. (I got a drop of grease on my hand when it was flying everywhere, so I didn't want to take a chance with the dressing.)
It was midnight by the time I finished dicing potatoes, but the grocery was closed and I needed more mayo, chicken broth and Italian dressing to make the dressing. I was so upset that I stayed up typing an email to my friend the chef to let her know everything that happened. I closed up my laptop and went to sleep around 1:30 am.
Four hours later (5:30 am), my door opened. It was my mother. She asked what I needed to replace for my potato salad dressing so she could run to the grocery for it. I mumbled something incoherent in her direction. She made me get up to answer.
I continued cooking. Around 11:00 am, I was finally finished. Anne had two hours to eat and get to school, but there was still kitchen clean-up to do and I had not even taken my shower yet! So I ran up to shower and dress despite the condition of the kitchen. I was ready just in time to drive Anne to school (which means she got a piece of smoked sausage and a granola bar for lunch). But when I came downstairs into the kitchen, the dishes were already clean. My dad had washed them for me.
After graduation, a total of about 30 people (not 40) showed up to the party. We had more than plenty of food and sent some home with adult guests. The extra potato salad and cole slaw was given to my chef friend. (She LOVES potato salad.) And my daughter had a well-deserved and wonderful time with a gathering of her friends.
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