Improvising
It’s not entirely true that doing simple math is the
only thing you need to cook for a crowd. My biggest challenge is getting the
ordering right. Our different suppliers for summer camp deliver on different
days and carry different items, so it’s no small task. One year I was feeling
pretty smug because everything was running so smoothly. I was really on top of
things. But pride comes before a fall. Saturday night when I went to the
freezer to get the chicken nuggets out for a quick and easy meal the next day,
they were nowhere to be found. I had forgotten to order them! There would be no
other delivery until Monday. To make matters worse, the village mayor and
priest were coming for Sunday lunch! I found enough chicken breasts for about
half the camp and a few kilos of smoked salmon. I decided to serve rice with a
choice of two different sauces. I made a very rich and creamy sauce with the
salmon to stretch that, then chopped up the chicken and made a mushroom sauce
with loads of mushrooms. Not only would that make the chicken go farther, but
it would also steer those who didn’t like mushrooms to the salmon sauce, which
I thought would be less popular. I pulled it off and no one was the wiser
except my kitchen crew and some of the staff.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5uQw3IV1GjtPkGRvEhsesEM_C_jH1GsBUp80-2lPOgPqkr_iWzwFQZeGJU2dUAd9gI79_PbXUF6ZYChXAYYQer3DVbCE5AtA68je9q8YaOA2p7DSfKrSXOqw4VrO8P0xN5f00dhkhao0/s1600/DSC00241.JPG) |
firing on all cylinders |
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZ_qq1IgODnNHecCskbWvvyhJdtwDPFJI1yDuXQPNa3rvVv1-PUgCOd2MjP5jE1F2rPE-kxWUHIZnpt7x5VkMvdfXxxcCnE_sXSCRABjyivplxTsLrIaVWHFC-GW6hh0A6zRSDjIOGdGk/s1600/IMG_0363_2.JPG) |
my kitchen crew |
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