Menu for catering a picnic

Alexis said:

Well, here's the story. One of our staff members has taken a job out
of state and is leaving in the next week or so. One of her neighbors
is having what was supposed to be a pot-luck farewell picnic for her
and her family. I was kindly invited and offered to bring a dessert.

Yesterday morning she called me in somewhat of a panic. Due to
vacations and summer plans and whathaveyou, she's come up way short on
appetizers and desserts for tonight's picnic. Lots of salads and main
dishes, but none of the other. My coworker mentioned to her that I
occasionally cater small events as a side job, and she wondered if I'd
be interested.

Short notice? Oh yeah. However, it's summer, I had a week's stay in
the hospital this month, and my next regular paycheck won't be coming
until the last school day in September -- so the very last thing I'm
going to do is turn down a chance at some extra cash.

She essentially gave me carte blanche on the menu, especially
considering that I know the guest of honor and can do a fairly good job
of meeting her likes and dislikes.

So, here's the menu (my part of it, at least). Since it's a picnic, I
wanted everything I prepared to be as "stand around milling" as
possible, especially with the desserts.

Appetizers -- baked brie with sundried tomatoes, vegetable pizza,
cheese banik (greek/slovak cheese pastry), crab fondu, greek meatballs,
spanikopita, tsitski and pocket bread.

Desserts -- banana pudding, strawberry-chocolate bars, baklavas, sand
[censored], and lemon bars.

I need to leave in 2 hours, and I've just now taken the last dish out
of the oven. Perfect timing -- I have time to clean everything up and
relax for a bit. Let's now hope that the forecasted rain holds off
until either *late* tonight or tomorrow!

No rain, excellent weather, beautiful backyard and delightful guests.
The only glitch was that some time after the hostess gave me directions
to her house, construction workers tore up the road and blocked off the
access from the way I was told to drive. The house was in one of those
rabbit-hole neighborhoods, full of dead end streets and switchbacks and
you-can't-get-there-from-here, so by the time I finally figured out
where I was and how to get to her house, I was running about 30 minutes
late. Fortunately, I'm a bit OCD (okay, I'm a lot OCD) and I tend to
be obessessively early (I enjoy spending a few quiet minutes before I
go in somplace, especially if I'm not going to know very many people
there), so my 30 minutes late put me there right on time.

The food was *fantastic*. Yes, my dishes are excellent, but the main
course was a selection of grilled salmons -- bourbon and honey,
lemon-garlic, cajun, and two or three others that I didn't get to
sample. The hostess didn't want the leftovers and the guest of honor
was driving out tomorrow, and they didn't have much room in their car
for "extras", so after fixing a few plates of the leftovers for a
couple of guests to take home, the hostess asked me if I'd take any of
the leftover foods home for myself.

Not a bad deal, overall. I got to enjoy one final evening with a
friend, I got paid for ingredients and my time and effort and skill,
plus I have some of the fruits of my labor to eat on for the next few
days.

Alexis.

Wow, Alexis, great story! We have a lot of those
can't-get-there-from-here neighborhoods in my area. I remember
house-hunting several years ago...there was one house we never could
find because the street it was on started, then dead-ended, then resumed
(after we'd driven around to find the rest of it) and got renamed, and
then dead-ended again, and started up again under the original name,
etc. Drove us crazy!

What is your crab fondu like? And what about the strawberry-chocolate
bars? Would you share the recipes, please?

All the food sounds wonderful...enjoy your leftovers!
Chris

"Alexis" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Alexis said:

Well, here's the story. One of our staff members has taken a job out
of state and is leaving in the next week or so. One of her neighbors
is having what was supposed to be a pot-luck farewell picnic for her
and her family. I was kindly invited and offered to bring a dessert.

Yesterday morning she called me in somewhat of a panic. Due to
vacations and summer plans and whathaveyou, she's come up way short on
appetizers and desserts for tonight's picnic. Lots of salads and main
dishes, but none of the other. My coworker mentioned to her that I
occasionally cater small events as a side job, and she wondered if I'd
be interested.

Short notice? Oh yeah. However, it's summer, I had a week's stay in
the hospital this month, and my next regular paycheck won't be coming
until the last school day in September -- so the very last thing I'm
going to do is turn down a chance at some extra cash.

She essentially gave me carte blanche on the menu, especially
considering that I know the guest of honor and can do a fairly good job
of meeting her likes and dislikes.

So, here's the menu (my part of it, at least). Since it's a picnic, I
wanted everything I prepared to be as "stand around milling" as
possible, especially with the desserts.

Appetizers -- baked brie with sundried tomatoes, vegetable pizza,
cheese banik (greek/slovak cheese pastry), crab fondu, greek meatballs,
spanikopita, tsitski and pocket bread.

Desserts -- banana pudding, strawberry-chocolate bars, baklavas, sand
[censored], and lemon bars.

I need to leave in 2 hours, and I've just now taken the last dish out
of the oven. Perfect timing -- I have time to clean everything up and
relax for a bit. Let's now hope that the forecasted rain holds off
until either *late* tonight or tomorrow!

No rain, excellent weather, beautiful backyard and delightful guests.
The only glitch was that some time after the hostess gave me directions
to her house, construction workers tore up the road and blocked off the
access from the way I was told to drive. The house was in one of those
rabbit-hole neighborhoods, full of dead end streets and switchbacks and
you-can't-get-there-from-here, so by the time I finally figured out
where I was and how to get to her house, I was running about 30 minutes
late. Fortunately, I'm a bit OCD (okay, I'm a lot OCD) and I tend to
be obessessively early (I enjoy spending a few quiet minutes before I
go in somplace, especially if I'm not going to know very many people
there), so my 30 minutes late put me there right on time.

The food was *fantastic*. Yes, my dishes are excellent, but the main
course was a selection of grilled salmons -- bourbon and honey,
lemon-garlic, cajun, and two or three others that I didn't get to
sample. The hostess didn't want the leftovers and the guest of honor
was driving out tomorrow, and they didn't have much room in their car
for "extras", so after fixing a few plates of the leftovers for a
couple of guests to take home, the hostess asked me if I'd take any of
the leftover foods home for myself.

Not a bad deal, overall. I got to enjoy one final evening with a
friend, I got paid for ingredients and my time and effort and skill,
plus I have some of the fruits of my labor to eat on for the next few
days.

Alexis.
======

Sounds perfect!! WTG Alexis!

Cyndi

"Alexis" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Alexis said:

Well, here's the story. One of our staff members has taken a job out
of state and is leaving in the next week or so. One of her neighbors
is having what was supposed to be a pot-luck farewell picnic for her
and her family. I was kindly invited and offered to bring a dessert.

Yesterday morning she called me in somewhat of a panic. Due to
vacations and summer plans and whathaveyou, she's come up way short on
appetizers and desserts for tonight's picnic. Lots of salads and main
dishes, but none of the other. My coworker mentioned to her that I
occasionally cater small events as a side job, and she wondered if I'd
be interested.

Short notice? Oh yeah. However, it's summer, I had a week's stay in
the hospital this month, and my next regular paycheck won't be coming
until the last school day in September -- so the very last thing I'm
going to do is turn down a chance at some extra cash.

She essentially gave me carte blanche on the menu, especially
considering that I know the guest of honor and can do a fairly good job
of meeting her likes and dislikes.

So, here's the menu (my part of it, at least). Since it's a picnic, I
wanted everything I prepared to be as "stand around milling" as
possible, especially with the desserts.

Appetizers -- baked brie with sundried tomatoes, vegetable pizza,
cheese banik (greek/slovak cheese pastry), crab fondu, greek meatballs,
spanikopita, tsitski and pocket bread.

Desserts -- banana pudding, strawberry-chocolate bars, baklavas, sand
[censored], and lemon bars.

I need to leave in 2 hours, and I've just now taken the last dish out
of the oven. Perfect timing -- I have time to clean everything up and
relax for a bit. Let's now hope that the forecasted rain holds off
until either *late* tonight or tomorrow!

No rain, excellent weather, beautiful backyard and delightful guests.
The only glitch was that some time after the hostess gave me directions
to her house, construction workers tore up the road and blocked off the
access from the way I was told to drive. The house was in one of those
rabbit-hole neighborhoods, full of dead end streets and switchbacks and
you-can't-get-there-from-here, so by the time I finally figured out
where I was and how to get to her house, I was running about 30 minutes
late. Fortunately, I'm a bit OCD (okay, I'm a lot OCD) and I tend to
be obessessively early (I enjoy spending a few quiet minutes before I
go in somplace, especially if I'm not going to know very many people
there), so my 30 minutes late put me there right on time.

The food was *fantastic*. Yes, my dishes are excellent, but the main
course was a selection of grilled salmons -- bourbon and honey,
lemon-garlic, cajun, and two or three others that I didn't get to
sample. The hostess didn't want the leftovers and the guest of honor
was driving out tomorrow, and they didn't have much room in their car
for "extras", so after fixing a few plates of the leftovers for a
couple of guests to take home, the hostess asked me if I'd take any of
the leftover foods home for myself.

Not a bad deal, overall. I got to enjoy one final evening with a
friend, I got paid for ingredients and my time and effort and skill,
plus I have some of the fruits of my labor to eat on for the next few
days.

Alexis.

What a great story! So many of these things usually end up being a tale of
woe, but yours was refreshingly nice!

kili

Alexis said:

Not a bad deal, overall. I got to enjoy one final evening with a
friend, I got paid for ingredients and my time and effort and skill,
plus I have some of the fruits of my labor to eat on for the next few
days.

Wonderful! Glad it all worked out.