Busy Day!

Today Farmer Chef Jeff and I (and 10 helpers) catered a party for ...drum roll please...1,200 people. Yes, that is 12 with 2 zeros. As I write this, Farmer Jeff is snoring on the couch. He is TOTALLY exhausted. We worked until 11 pm last night, at which point we stopped to eat dinner and go to bed, and then he was so pumped up about the party he couldn't go to sleep until 2:30 am. At 4:30 am he popped up, wide awake, so he went ahead and went to work. We arrived on site at 9:30 and he got back to the restaurant at 5:30pm. He deserves his sleep and whatever else I can do for him.

This is when we need someone to come in and be our nanny. I want someone to draw my bath, warm my flannel jammies in the dryer, fix hot cocoa for me and read to me in bed. Sigh...

I don't have that, but I do have warm and fuzzy kitties (as well as the pups) and they are a great comfort. I came home to discover, for the first time I have ever seen, Ginger and Julian sleeping/snuggling together. I actually believe that Julian tried to hog Gingers spot on her perch and she was able to eek out a tiny space.

The event was held at the winery Bella Vineyards and Wine Caves, located in Dry Creek Valley/Healdsburg and, coincidentally, was featured on the same segment of Giada's Weekend Getaways Wine Country along with Zin Restaurant!

That is the segment in which our Zin "Gnarly Old Vine" Zinfandel Jelly made it's debut. By the way, it is now on sale at Zin Restaurant during business hours, at the Cheese Shop in Healdsburg and at Bella Vineyards! Before you even ask, yes, Farmer Jeff and I, along with his mom and brother helped us to pick the grapes, crush the grapes, press the grapes and then Farmer Chef Jeff and I made the jelly. Okay, Farmer Chef Jeff made most of it, but I was there for all of one day!

I leave you with pictures from the catering event. As you will see we had the most incredible view from our "kitchen" and that part of the event was held in a wine cave. VERY COOL.

Have food, will travel

The food business is really exciting and ever full of surprises. Usually these are not pretty surprises, such as refrigerators "going down" or ovens not working, but in the case of catering, you are guaranteed surprises.

We had such a surprise last Sunday when delivering a "picnic" for a surprise birthday party. I knew that it was out a remote road, but didn't fully comprehend WHERE until we arrived. This was not a fully staffed event, rather one in which we dropped off hot food along with serving platters. Someone else had arranged for plates and silverware, thankfully!

We arrived out the remote road, twisting and turning until we arrived at a huge gate. We made the call to the person "inside" and then met her at the pond. I thought, lovely place for a picnic. NOOOOOOOO...that was just where the folks would first arrive for wine. Hm...I heard her saying something about the ATV...didn't pay much attention until she said that the last truck that tried to go up this road couldn't make it. That should have been a big clue.

Up the hill we climbed in our trusty 1964 Ford pickup...until it would climb no more. Farmer/Chef Jeff had to carry the food up the hill to the tree house. Did I mention that this was all to be delivered to a tree house??? As my honey put the truck in park, and put on the emergency brake, we realized that the old truck's brakes were not up to the task. I got to sit in the truck with my foot jammed on the brake while the food was unloaded and I PRAYED!!!

All the while I was sitting with my foot jammed on the brake, I tried to relax (but not too much!) and take in the view. It really was quite beautiful, but GOOD LORD!!! I took a few pictures, one of which was my foot on the brake...

It really was a beautiful setting, but I was not really able to fully enjoy it. Farmer/Chef Jeff took the camera to the top of the hill and snapped some shots of the view so I could see what was up there.

I didn't mention that while riding in the vintage Ford truck, the inside door handles fell off. Farmer Jeff has been after me to buy a truck for catering and I kept telling him no, up until I had to lean on the brake for dear life. When he got back into the truck and relieved me of my braking duties, I asked him if we could go look at trucks. My faithful little '97 Nissan Maxima has been traded in for a Chevy truck! Now we have a truck that we can rely upon. I can hardly wait to take the dogs for a ride in it!